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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap. Copyright JSo. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







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Easy Steps in the 
Bible Story 



FROM THE CREATION TO SINAI 



By 
ADELAIDE BEE COOPER 



WluattateD 



REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Battle Creek, Michigan 
1900 



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72549 



Utsmuy of ConrrT^sB 

NOV 8 1900 

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NOV 24 1« 



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Copyrighted, 1900, 
by 
Adelaide Bee Cooper 



Tfl th* (KhilrirBti 

This Book Is Lovingly Dedicated 



INTRODUCTION 



The truth, simply told, always carries with it the 
power of conviction. Embellishments do not belong 
to God's word. God never makes any apology when 
he speaks to man. It is, "Thus saith the L,ord," 
or, "Thus saith the Holy Ghost;" then whatever 
God has to say, he says it simply, directly, and right 
to the point. 

This little book does not claim to be original in 
conception, nor to bring out startling truths or fan- 
ciful ideas : it simply gives the truth, in language 
adapted to the young. It takes the truths that lie 
upon the very surface of revelation, and tells the 
story simply, that others may be able to comprehend 
its nature and see its beauty. 

The lyord said to Israel: "Thou shalt remember all 
the way which the L,ord thy God led thee these forty 
years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove 
thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou 
wouldest keep his commandments, or no." Deut. 
8:2. He would have people repeat over and over to 
their children, and to their children's children, the 
dealings of God with them. The facts were given in 
the scrolls of the Hebrews, but the story was told in 
the language of the mothers. So should it ever be. 

God would have the story of creation ; of the flood ; 
of his servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; of Joseph 

9 



io Introduction 

and Moses ; and of the deliverance of the children of 
Israel from Egypt, — all his wonderful dealings with 
mankind, — repeated in the language of the people. 
This is what the present book does. It gives the 
story of what God has said, and of what he has done 
in his dealings with the children of men. 

Daniel was preserved in the courts of Babylon 
from the meat that came from the king's table, and 
from the wine which the king drank, by the barrier 
built around his soul by his mother's telling him the 
story of Nadab and Abihu. This was the Hebrew 
method of teaching the children ; and were this 
method more fully adopted at the present time, it 
would throw about our children a safeguard that 
would keep them from the thousand evils that sur- 
round them. 

I^et all feel the power there is in the simple story 
that God has given in his word, spoken in language 
that the children and youth can comprehend. In the 
perils before us, our youth will need a special protec- 
tion from the I^ord. He is to draw over his people 
the covering of the Holy Spirit ; but none can be cov- 
ered unless their minds are directed to the history of 
God's work, and impressions are made that will lead 
them to trust in him who has ever wrought for his 
people in the past. 

S. N. HASKEIylv. 
September, 1900. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Making of the World . . .13 

II Man's Disobedience . . . . 21 

III The Two Brothers, Cain and Abel 24 

IV The Flood, the Ark, and the Bow 

of Promise 29 

V The Tower of Babel . . . .38 
VI Abraham, ' ' The Friend of God " . 43 
VII The Destruction of the Cities of 

the Plain 53 

VIII Jacob and Esau . .... 59 

IX Joseph . . . , 75 

X Moses 99 

XI The Plagues of Egypt . . . .109 
XII The Passover 127 

XIII Crossing the Red Sea . . . .135 

XIV The Miracle at Marah : The Giv- 

ing of the Manna . . . .142 
XV Water from the Rock : The Ama- 

lekites : The Visit of Jethro . 148 
XVI The Ten Commandments . . .152 



n 



FULL - PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



The Ark at Rest {Frontispiece) .... 4 
Bkasts and Birds Going into the Ark . 32 

Noah's Thank-Offering 36 

Eliezer Meets Rebecca 42 

On the Way to Mount Moriah . . .51 
Lot and His Daughters Leave Sodom . 57 
Isaac Blessing His Son Jacob . . . .61 
Jacob's Wonderful Dream .... 66 
Rachel Drawing Water for Her Flock . 69 
Joseph's Dream of the Sheaves ... 74 
Joseph Sold by His Brothers . . . .79 
Joseph Makes Himself Known to His 

Brothers 92 

Moses Hidden by His Mother .... 103 
Moses Taken to the Princess . . . 105 

Making Brick in Egypt no 

Under the Taskmasters of Egypt . . 113 

Sprinkling the Blood 126 

In Every House There Was One Dead . 131 



12 




* B W^ i ft £ ^ 
The AV&king of the World 

THE first two chapters of the Bible tell us 
how the earth was made, and how man 
was created to live in it, and rule over it. 

At first the earth was a great shapeless 
mass ; it had no form, and was covered with 
a dense darkness, through which no ray of 
light had ever shone. We have never seen, 
nor can we imagine, a darkness so thick as 
that. But God said, "Let there be light: and 
there was light;" for when he speaks, his 
word has power to make it so. 

Without light everything that grows on 
the earth would die; there would be no grass, ^W? 
no flowers, no living, growing thing. Did 
you ever see a plant that had been kept for 
some time in a cellar or a darkened room, 
and notice how pale and sickly it looked? 
Perhaps you have seen it taken outdoors, 
set in the ground, and shaded a few days 

13 





4 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




from the sun's rays, till it grew stronger, 
and its leaves became green and its stalk 
firm. Without light it would have died. 

After he had made light, God separated, 
or parted, the light from the darkness; and 
he " called the light Day, and the darkness he 
called Night." Thus he gave us a time for 
quiet rest, and a time for work and study and 
play. This was done on the First Day of 
Creation Week. 

The Second Day the Lord made a covering 
for the earth, which extends all around it, and 
is many miles deep. This covering we call 
"air." The region of the air is also called 
the firmament, or sky. 

We can not see the air, but we have all 
seen what it can do. When it is in motion, 
it moves the leaves of the trees, and sways the 
flowers on their stems ; it waves the wide fields 
of grain, ripples the surface of the waters, and 
fills the sails of the great ships that float on 
the rivers and oceans. Sometimes the motion 
of the air is so rough that it tears up giant 
trees by their roots, takes the roofs from 
houses, and tosses the waters of the sea 
about in angry waves. 

Although air is very light, it upholds the 



y\. 



The Making of the World 



*5 



beautiful clouds that float about in it — some- 
times white and fluffy, and far, far above our 
beads ; sometimes black and heavy, and hang- 
ing low in the sky, with lightning in their 
dark folds ; and sometimes rose-colored, and 
purple, and red, and like shining gold. 

While nothing could live long without light, 
it is just as true that nothing could live long 
without air. If the Lord were to take away 




from the earth its covering of air, in a short 
time there would be nothing left alive on it. 
The earth was still covered with water. 
Under the water it was not smooth, like an 
apple, but rough, with hollows and hills ; and 
in those deep hollows the Lord caused the 
waters to settle, or " gather together," leaving 
some places dry. "And God called the dry 
land Earth ; and the gathering together of the 
waters called he Seas." In speaking of this 



1 6 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 





work in another part of his Word, he tells us 
that he " placed the sand for the bound of the 
sea by a perpetual decree, that it can not pass 
it." This means that the seas can never 
again spread out over the earth, and cover 
it, as they did at the first. 

Can you think how the earth looked when 
the waters were first gathered into seas and 
lakes and rivers? Perhaps you have seen 
a bare, plowed field, with not a green sprig 
on it anywhere, or some sandy, stony place 
where nothing grew. For a short time the 
dry land must all have looked like that. 

But God did not leave it in this condition. 
He spread over the earth a soft, thick carpet 
of green, dotted with bright-colored, sweet- 
smelling flowers; and covered the hills with 
forests. Fruit trees, herbs, and all seed-bear- 
ing plants were also made on the Third Day. 

On the Fourth Day appeared the sun, to 
light the day, and the moon and stars, to 
light the night. These not only "divide the 
day from the night," but they are u for signs, 
and for seasons, and for days, and years." 
The seasons — spring, summer, autumn, and 
winter — are marked by the earth's journey 
around the sun. 



The Making of the World 



*7 



Next were made the birds and the insects 
and the fishes — everything that flies in the 
air, or that swims in the sea. The birds flitted 
busily about in the branches, choosing their 
nesting-places; the insects flew from flower 
to flower; and the waters were filled with 
active, moving life. This was on the Fifth 
Day. 

On the Sixth Day were made all kinds of 
fourfooted beasts — cattle and sheep, cats and 
dogs, lions and bears, and many others. The 
creeping things, also, such as snails, lizards, 
and caterpillars, were made on this day. 

But there was yet something to do. God 
had separated the light from the darkness; he 
had set the sun and moon in the heavens, and 
studded the sky with countless shining stars; 
he had gathered the waters together, and filled 
with life the rivers and lakes and seas ; he had 
covered the earth with grass and trees and 
flowers, and had filled the air with the sweet 
songs of birds. But he had made this beauti- - A 
ful world for a purpose. It was to be the 
home of man, made in God's own image. 

When all was ready, God made man from 
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, so that he became 




1 8 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 





a "living soul." He could think about the 
wonderful things around him, and could 
express his thoughts in words. He could 
move about and do things; he could speak, 
and sing, and pray. He was just and hon- 
est; his body was perfectly sound and well, 
and his heart was pure. 

The Lord called the man Adam, and gave 
him dominion, or power, over the fish of the 
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
every living thing in all the earth. That 
means that all the animals would obey Adam, 
and that none of them would harm him in 
any way, or try to. On his part, Adam would 
do nothing to hurt or annoy these innocent, 
trusting creatures. 

Then God caused all the beasts to pass 
before Adam; and " whatsoever Adam called 
every living creature, that was the name 
thereof;" for the Lord gave Adam wisdom 
to name every living creature just right. 

But among all these animals there was not 
one with whom Adam could talk, and whom 
he could love; so the Lord made a woman, 
Eve, and gave her to be Adam's wife. Adam 
and Eve were to be the first father and mother 
of all who should live on the earth. 






The Making of the World 



J 9 



The whole earth was like a lovely garden. 
It was much more beautiful than we ever see 
it now, even in early summer, when the fields 
are clothed with living green, the trees have 
shaken out their tender leaves, and the air 
is fragrant with the perfume of millions of 
flowers. There was not a dead leaf or twig 
to mar the beauty of the fresh young earth. 

But the Lord chose one spot to be the 
special home of man. Here he " planted a 
garden," and in it he put every tree and plant 
that was pleasant to the sight or good for food. 
In the middle of the garden was the Tree of 
Life — a wonderful tree, which, as we learn 
from the Bible, is now in heaven. We are 
told that this tree bears twelve kinds of fruit, 
and that its leaves are for the " healing of the 
nations." As long as Adam and Eve should 
love and obey the One who had made them, 
they were to be allowed to eat the fruit of 
this tree. The tree of knowledge of good 
and evil was also in the garden. 

Adam and Eve were not to be idle in their 
home ; they were to dress the garden, and to 
keep it. As they worked, they would think 
of the wonderful things the Lord had made, 
— the plants and fruits and flowers, the 




20 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

beasts and birds, — and would speak together 
of bis love and goodness. 

The work of creation was finished in six 
days ; and on the seventh day the Lord rested 
from all his work. "And God blessed the 
seventh day, and sanctified it : because that 
in it he had rested from all his work which 
God created and made." He did not rest 
because he was tired, but to give an exam- 
ple to man. The Sabbath is a memorial of 
creation ; that is, it reminds us of that 
wonderful event. If we keep it holy, we 
shall think of God's work during Creation 
Week, and of his rest when it was finished ; 
we shall remember that the same power that 
made the world upholds and keeps it every 
moment, and that it keeps us, too, and will 
protect us from evil and danger. 

As the Lord looked at the earth, and at 
the happy, loving pair in the garden, he 
saw that all his work was " very good." He 
rejoiced over it, and all the heavenly host re- 
joiced with him. 





# 6 6 

Disobedience 

WHEN God placed Adam in the lovely 
Garden of Eden, " to dress it, and to 
keep it," he talked to him about the trees, 
and told him that of every tree but one, 
including the beautiful tree of life, he might 
freely eat. For a wise reason, God saw that 
it would not be best for man to eat of the 
fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil : so he told him plainly that he must 
not eat of it, nor even touch it. 

Just one evil thing entered the garden — 
Satan, the enemy of God and man. The 
sight of so much peace and happiness made 
Satan envious and angry ; and he resolved to 
tempt man to sin, and thus grieve the heart 
of God. So Satan hid himself in the tree 
of knowledge; and when Eve was walking 
beneath it, he spoke to her, and asked her 
if it was really true that God had said they 
should not eat of the fruit of that tree. 




21 



22 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




Eve knew perfectly well what God had 
commanded. " We may eat of the frnit of 
the trees of the garden," she answered, 
" bnt of the fruit of the tree which is in 
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye 
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch 
it, lest ye die." It would have been much 
better for Eve if she had turned away then 
from the scene of temptation ; but she lin- 
gered, and listened to Satan's words ; and 
finally, alas ! she ate of the fruit, and gave 
some of it to Adam. 

Then the halo of purity and holiness 
with which God had clothed Adam and Eve 
was taken away ; and when the Lord, whom 
they had always been so glad to see, walked 
in the garden " in the cool of the day," 
they were afraid, and tried to hide them- 
selves among the trees. But he called them 
to him, and listened to their story. Then 
he told them what the result of their dis- 
obedience would be — how they must leave 
the garden, and never enter it again ; how 
the ground would bring forth thistles and 
tares and weeds ; and how suffering and 
death would enter the world. 

By disobeying God, Adam and Eve had 






Man's Disobedience 



23 



sinned; and the "wages [or resnlt] of sin is 
death." They must therefore die, with no 
hope of ever again enjoying a life like the 
one they had lost. 

But God's great heart of love was filled 
with compassion for his disobedient children ; 
and he gave them the promise of the Seed, 
— the Saviour, — who would come to the 
world and die for them, and thus pay the 
wages of sin, and make it possible for them 
to enter heaven. No other life but that of 
God's only Son, who had power to give life, 
could pay this price. 

Then God sent out of the garden the 
man and the woman whom he had created ; 
and he placed " at the east of the garden 
of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword 
which turned every way, to keep the way 
of the tree of life." 



s.-fifj. 







-g^xife 



in 

The 

Two Brothers 
C&in And Abel 



AFTER Adam and Eve were driven from 
the garden, God still talked with them, 
and told them of the promised Saviour. 
Lest, as time should pass, their children 
might forget that the Redeemer was coming 
to die for man, God told Adam and Eve to 
offer sacrifices to him at certain times. A 
lamb was chosen for this offering, because 
in its innocence it fitly represented the 
character of the sinless Son of God. As 
often as a lamb was killed, and burned be- 
fore the Lord, men were led to think of the 
cleansing blood of the Lamb of God, which 
was to be shed for them. 

Adam and Eve had two sons. Cain, the 
elder, tilled the ground; but Abel was a 
shepherd, and tended the flocks. When 
these sons had grown to manhood, they each 
made an offering to God. Abel followed the 
Iw^^r^ Lord's plan, and brought a lamb from the 

24 






Cain and Abel 



25 



fold ; but Cain thought his own way best, 
and brought an offering of the fruits of the 
field. 

In this very thing Cain showed that he 
did not believe in the promised Saviour — 
the Lamb who was to shed his blood for the 
sins of men. If he had believed, he would 
have understood that such an offering, no 
matter how beautiful and precious, could 
never be accepted in the place of that which 
the Lord had appointed. It was unbelief 
that led Cain to choose his own way, and 
set aside as of no value the blood of the 
loving Saviour ; and it was this that made 
his offering hateful in the sight of the 
Lord. 

"And the Lord had respect unto Abel 
and to his offering ; " but Cain's offering he 
could not accept. 

Then Cain's anger was kindled against 
his brother; and one day when they were 
in the field together, he killed him. Thus 
one sin led to another, and still another; 
first unbelief, then disobedience, envy, mur- 
der, and falsehood. For when God spoke 
to Cain, and asked, " Where is Abel thy 
brother?" Cain answered, "I know not." 









26 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

The ground had already been cursed 
once on account of sin; but now, because of 
Cain's great sin, it was cursed again, and 
he was told that henceforth he should be a 
fugitive and a vagabond on the face of the 
earth; that is, he should have no settled 
home, but should wander from one place to 
another. 

What bitter sorrow must have filled the 
hearts of Adam and Eve as they beheld in 
these things the results of their own disobe- 
dience ! Cain was an outcast, a fugitive, to 
be shunned and feared; and Abel, their 
gentle shepherd son, was dead. It is hard 
for us even to imagine their grief. 

But another son, Seth, was given to 
them ; and he feared the Lord, and lived a 
long time to comfort his parents. Other 
sons and daughters were born to them, and 
their children and grandchildren made a 
large family. Some of them were good, 
but very many of them were wicked. 

Among those who feared and served the 
Lord was Enoch, " the seventh from Adam." 
We are not told much about the life of this 
godly man ; but we know that he was a 
prophet ; that is, one to whom God reveals 



Cain and Abel 



27 



what will come to pass, and through, whom 
he speaks to the people. Only one of 
Enoch's prophecies is preserved to us, and 
that is recorded in the book of Jude. As 
the glorious scenes of the second coming of 
Christ to the world were presented before 
him, he cried out, " Behold, the Lord com- 
eth with ten thousands of his saints ! " 

Enoch did not die. He lived a pure and 
holy life ; and when he was three hundred 
and sixty-five years old, he was taken to 
heaven. We are told that before he was 
translated, he had the testimony, or assur- 
ance, that he pleased God. 

What a wonderful and beautiful thing to 
be on record concerning any one ! yet it is 
within the reach of the humblest, weakest 
person in the world. No matter how evil 
our surroundings, we can live pure lives. 

Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years 
— nearly a thousand. He often gathered 
his children and children's children around 
him, and told them about the beautiful gar- 
den of Eden, and how it was lost to them, 
and entreated them to love and obey God; 
but in spite of this, as more men lived on 
the earth, wickedness increased. 




28 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

Think for a moment of the great ages of 
the men who lived in those early days, 
and of how interested the people must have 
been to see the First Man. Seth, the third 
son of Adam and Eve, lived to be nine 
hundred and twelve years old ; and we learn 
from the Bible that some of Adam's sons 
and great-grandsons were still older. Enos 
was nine hundred and five years old when 
he died ; and Jared lived nine hundred and 
sixty-two years — thirty-two years longer 
than Adam himself. Methuselah, the oldest 
man whose age we have on record, was nine 
hundred and sixty-nine years old when he 
died. Perhaps you have a dear grandfather, 
whose hair is thin and white, and who sup- 
ports his feeble steps with a cane. Ask 
him how old he is, and then compare his 
age with that of these men of whom we 
read in the first chapters of the Bible. You 
will see that they lived to be nine, ten, 
even twelve times older than men live now. 
God gave Adam and Eve and their children 
strong, healthy bodies : it is sin that has 
made men weak, and shortened their lives. 



IV 

The Flood, the ArK,&nd the Bow 
o| Promise 

FOR about two thousand years men con- 
tinued to increase on the earth ; but 
they grew worse and worse, and departed 
farther and farther from the Lord, until 
the whole earth was " filled with violence." 
What a terrible sight, to see the fair earth 
so given over to sin that as its Creator 
looked upon it, he should be "grieved at 
his heart " ! 

" And the Lord said, I will destroy man 
whom I have created from the face of the 
earth ; both man, and beast, and the creep- 
ing thing, and the fowls of the air ; for it 
repenteth me that I have made them." 

Though the sons and daughters of Adam 
had departed so far from their loving Heav- 
enly Father, he would not destroy them 
without giving each one an opportunity to 

repent, and escape the evil that was coming. 

29 




30 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

But who would give this warning? Ah, 
" The Lord knoweth them that are his ; " 
and as he looked upon the earth, he saw one 
man whose heart was perfect toward him. 
Noah was not led into the sins of that 
wicked age; like Enoch, he "walked with 
God " in purity of heart. Therefore he was 
chosen to warn the world. 

The Lord told Noah to make a great ark, 
or boat, and gave him careful directions 
concerning its building ; " and, behold, " he 
said, "I, even I, do bring a flood of waters 
upon the earth, to destroy all flesh." The 
ark was made of a light but very strong 
wood called gopher wood, and was covered 
with pitch outside and in, to make it water- 
tight. It was about five hundred and fifty 
feet long, and three stories high, and had 
a door in the side and a window in the top. 
Within, it was divided into rooms for men 
and animals, and for storing large quanti- 
ties of food. 

For one hundred and twenty years Noah 
worked on the ark ; and as he worked, he 
warned the people that a flood was coming, 
which would destroy every living thing. 
He not only worked and preached, but he 



The Ark 31 

also invited all who would to enter the ark, 
and be kept alive. No doubt the people 
laughed at Noah, and thought him a fool- 
ish old man ; for it had never rained, as we 
see water come down from the clouds ; but 
" there went up a mist from the earth," and 
watered it. Because the people had never 
seen rain fall, they did not believe such a 
thing was possible, even when God said so. 
Perhaps some believed for a time; but as 
years passed, and things went along much 
as before, they returned to their wicked 
ways. But Noah was not turned aside from 
his work ; he kept on building, and at last 
the ark was finished, and the storerooms 
were filled with food for man and beast. 
Then the Lord told Noah to take his 
wife and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and 
Japheth, and their wives, and go into the 
ark. He also gave him directions concern- 
ing the beasts. Of the clean beasts and 
birds, — those that ate only grains and 
grass, and were offered in sacrifice, — seven 
pairs of each kind were to be kept in the 
ark. Those animals that kill other animals, 
and eat their flesh, and those that have 
other filthy habits, were called " unclean 




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The Ark 



33 



beasts." Of these only two of each kind 
were to be kept alive. 

Noah and his three sons could never have 
collected all these beasts and birds; but 
when the time came, and the boat was ready, 
and the people had been warned, the Lord 
caused the animals to come from forest and 
field, and the birds from their hidden nests, 
and quietly enter the ark. With them came 
also the required number from meadow and 
fold and yard — horses and cattle and sheep 
and fowl. What a wonderful sight, to see 
lions, bears, wolves, — all the fierce, raven- 
ous beasts, — walking peacefully, with none 
to guide them, into the great boat side by 
side with the shy creatures of the woods 
and the timid sheep ! 

As the people saw these animals coming, 
by twos and by sevens, and entering the 
ark, it was a sign to them that the flood 
they had heard of for so many years was 
at last about to come. But they did not 
wish to leave their beautiful homes, their 
business, their pleasures ; so they would not 
heed the sign, but turned away. 

And when Noah and his family and all 
the animals were in the ark, the Lord him- 
self shut them in. 





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y&z-±*$£$* 




34 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

Still for seven days it did not rain ; but 
at the end of that time " the waters of the 
flood were upon the earth." Not only did 
torrents of water fall from the clouds ; but 
the " fountains of the great deep were broken 
up," and rivers of water burst out of the 
ground. This lasted for forty days and forty 
nights ; and by the end of that time there 
was not a living thing left on the earth, 
except the men and animals in the great 
boat that rode so safely on the waves. 

For five long months the ark moved to 
and fro over the waters, and then it came 
to rest on Mt. Ararat. " And God made a 
wind to pass over the earth, and the waters 
assuaged ; " that is, they became calm, and 
began to sink away. 

After forty days, Noah opened the window 
of the ark, and sent forth a raven and a 
dove, " to see if the waters were abated from 
off the face of the ground." The raven did 
not return, but flew to and fro until the 
waters were dried up ; but the dove found 
no place to rest, and at last, very weary, 
it came back to the ark, and Noah "put 
forth his hand, and took her, and pulled 
her in unto him into the ark." 



The Bow of Promise 



35 



Seven days later Noah again sent out 
the dove ; and at evening it returned with 
an olive leaf in its mouth. Then all in 
the ark rejoiced greatly ; for they knew 
that the waters were dried up, and things 
were beginning to grow. 

After another week had passed, Noah 
sent out the dove once more, and this time 
it did not return. " And Noah looked, and, 
behold, the face of the ground was dry." 
Then the Lord spoke to Noah, and told 
him to go forth out of the ark, with his 
sons, and their wives, and all the beasts. 

The first thing Noah did when he left 
the ark, was to build an altar, and make 
a thank-offering to God for his wonderful 
deliverance. The Lord accepted Noah's of- 
fering, and declared : "I will not again 
curse the ground any more for man's 
sake ; . . . neither will I again smite 
any more everything living, as I have 
done." 

Then God made a covenant with 
Noah, and with " every living crea- 
ture," — the fowl, the cattle, and every 
beast of the earth, — that he would not 
again destroy the earth by a flood ; 









NOAH'S THANK-OFFERING 



3^ 



The Bow of Promise 



37 



and in token of this promise, he set the 
rainbow in the clouds, and said : "I do set 
my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a 
token of a covenant between me and the 
earth. And it shall come to pass, when I 
bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 
shall be seen in the cloud : and I will re- 
member my covenant, which is between me 
and you and every living creature of all flesh ; 
and the waters shall no more become a flood 
to destroy all flesh." 

Is it not a wonderful thought that when- 
ever we see the beautiful shining bow in 
the clouds, we may know that God sees it 
too, and is remembering his promise to 
Noah and to all his creatures? 




\ 









V 

The Tower of Babel 

BY the events of the flood, Noah became 
the " second father of the race." He was 
about six hundred years old when he went 
into the ark, and he lived three hundred 
and fifty years after he came out of it, thus 
living to the great age of nine hundred and 
fifty years. As new generations of men 
were born and came to years of understand- 
ing, he was able, as was Adam in his day, 
to tell them of the promised Saviour, and 
warn them against the results of disobe- 
dience to God. 

But sin was in men's hearts, just as it 
was before the flood ; and the two classes — 
the wicked and the righteous — still lived on 
the earth. 

As the people increased, they formed com- 
panies, and moved into new places. Those 
who loved their own ways naturally sought 
one another's society; they wished to please 
38 



The Tower of Babel 



39 



themselves, and they did not like to hear 
about the Lord or his dealings with men. 

Such a company found a beautiful, fertile 
plain in a land called Shinar; and here they 
decided to build a city, and establish them- 
selves. "Let us make brick," they said, 
" and build us a city and a tower, whose 
top may reach unto heaven ; and let us 
make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad 
upon the face of the whole earth." 

They also had another object in building 
the tower: they could not forget the flood, 
and the thought of it made them uncom- 
fortable. They did not believe that the 
Lord would not again destroy the earth by 
a flood ; the bow of promise awakened no 
gratitude in their hearts ; but they thought 
that if another flood should come, they 
could go into this great tower and be safe. 
There is a Strong Tower, to which men 
may run for safety in times of danger, but 
it is not built by men's hands. 

Many names are given in the Bible to 
our Creator and Redeemer, and these names 
all express something that he is to his peo- 
ple. He is called Jesus, Saviour, because 
he saves his people from their sins ; the 





. 4 

40 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

Prince of Peace, because he will set up his 
kingdom of peace in the heart of every one 
who serves him ; Guide and Counselor, be- 
cause he directs and gives wisdom to those 
who go to him in times of danger and per- 
plexity ; the Good Shepherd, because he 
cares for his children as tenderly as a kind 
shepherd cares for the sheep and lambs of 
his flock. In olden times the people built 
high walls around their villages and towns 
and cities, to protect their homes and wives 
and children from their enemies. In these 
walls were strong towers, where men kept 
watch to see when danger threatened, and 
where the people might go in times of great 
peril. Because to his people the Lord is a 
Refuge safer than any tower that men can 
build, he is called our High Tower, and in 
another place our Strong Tower, where the 
righteous may run and be safe. In this 
High Tower these unbelieving men and 
women might have found a safe refuge from 
their fears. Alas that they did not put their 
trust in him ! 

Day after day the people toiled at their 
work of making bricks and mixing mortar, 
and carrying them up, up, up, to the work- 



The Tower of Babel 41 

ers on the tower. "And the Lord came 
down to see the city and the tower, which 
the children of men builded." 

" And the whole earth was of one lan- 
guage, and of one speech." 

Then the Lord confounded their speech, 
so that one could not understand what an- 
other said. It was impossible to work to- 
gether in this way ; so the building of the 
city and the tower was stopped, and the 
people went away. The Bible says, " They 
left off to build." 

Thus their plans were defeated ; and by 
the very means they had taken to make 
themselves a fixed abode, they were scat- 
tered abroad through the earth. 





ELIEZER MEETS REBECCA 




VI 



Abraham 
'The Friend of God 



59 



ABOUT two hundred and fifty years after 
the confusion of tongues and the con- 
sequent scattering abroad of the people, the 
Lord chose Abram, the son of Terah, of the 
line of Shem, to be the father of a nation 
that should be in a special sense his people, 
— a nation that should keep his command- 
ments and honor him in all their ways, and 
thus be a light to the heathen around them. 
" Get thee out of thy country, and from thy 
kindred, and from thy father's house," said 
the Lord to his servant, " unto a land that 
I will show thee." 

Abram did not stop to ask why he should 
leave his home and friends ; but he took his 
wife, his aged father, and his nephew Lot, 
with their servants and camels, flocks and 
herds, and set out on his journey, content to 
be led of the Lord. At Haran, one of their 
camping-places, Abram's father died. 

43 







44 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

At last the company entered the land of 
Canaan, and pitched their tents in the plain 
of Moreh. A fierce and powerful people 
was already living in the land ; but the Lord 
appeared to Abram, and assured him that it 
would certainly be given to his heirs. 
BS1I -^y eas y stages Abram and his family 

moved southward ; and finally, because of a 
famine in Canaan, they went down to Egypt 
for a number of years. Wherever they stopped 
to pitch their tents, Abram built an altar, 
and worshiped his heavenly Leader. 

The Lord greatly blessed Abram and Lot 
while they were in Egypt ; and when they 
returned to Canaan, they were rich in cattle, 
and had much silver and gold. There were 
so many " flocks, and herds, and tents" 
that " the land was not able to bear them ; " 
and the men who kept Lot's cattle quarreled 
with Abram 's herdsmen. 

Then Abram called Lot to him, and touch- 
ingly pleaded with him that there might be 
no strife between them. Though he was 
the elder, and the specially chosen instru- 
ment of the Lord, Abram had a humble, 
unselfish heart. Instead of telling Lot to 
take his cattle to such and such a place, 



The Friend of God 45 

he said, " Is not the whole land before 
thee?" and offered him his choice of it all. 

Lot was not slow to make a choice. The 
fair plain of the Jordan, well watered, and 
as " the garden of the Lord " for beauty, 
attracted him ; and he chose that, notwith- 
standing the dwellers in the plain were very 
wicked. 

So Lot took his wife and children and 
servants, his sheep and camels and cattle, 
and moved down to the plain, and pitched 
his tents outside the city of Sodom. After 
he had gone away, the Lord spoke to Abram 
again, and renewed his promise concerning 
the land, making it even stronger than 
before. 

Lot had not been in Sodom very long 
before he got into trouble. Chedorlaomer 
(Ked'-or-la-o'-mer), king of Elam, and four 
other kings with him, made war on the 
cities of the plain, and took away from 
Sodom many idols, much food, and a long 
train of captives, Lot and his family among 
the number. When word was brought to 
Abram of the matter, he armed the three 
hundred and eighteen trained servants of 
his household, and calling to his aid the 





46 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

help of three neighboring chiefs with whom 
he was on friendly terms, he pursued the 
victorious army. Coming upon them by 
night, Abram divided his men into three 
companies, "and smote them, and pursued 
them." He not only rescued Lot, but he 
also brought back many of the things that 
the army had taken from the people of Sodom. 
As Abram returned, the king of Sodom 
came out to meet him, and offered to divide 
with him the spoils of the battle. But 
Abram had not gone out to enrich himself 
in this way : his object had been simply to 
rescue his nephew, and he would not take 
so much as a shoelace from the spoils. 
Melchisedec, also, " the priest of the Most 
High God," met Abram in the way, and 



^ blessed him. And Abram "gave him tithes 
/?fv\of all." Thus we see that in those early 
^ days the Lord's people paid tithes. 

Three times the Lord had spoken plainly 
to Abram, and promised to make of him a 
$$& great nation, and to give the land of Ca- 
naan to his heirs. And as yet Abram had 
no child. After he had returned from help- 
ing Lot, "the word of the Lord came unto 
Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: 



The Friend of God 47 

I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great 
reward." As Abram thought of his child- 
less home, and of the fierce, warlike tribes 
living in the land that was promised to his 
heirs, his faith grew weak, and he asked the 
Lord concerning his promise. Then the 
Lord told him that he should indeed have 
a son, and that his descendants should be 
as the stars in number. 

And Abram " believed God, and it was 
counted unto him for righteousness." 

But though Abram believed, he asked for 
a sign, or token, of God's covenant ; and 
the Lord told him to bring an offering con- 
sisting of a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, 
with a turtle dove and a young pigeon. 
Abram brought the sacrifice, and himself 
watched beside it " till the going down of 
the sun." Then a deep sleep fell upon 
him, and the Lord showed him that his 
descendants would be in bondage for four 
hundred years, but would finally be brought 
back to their own land. 

Sarai, Abram's wife, could not believe 
that in her old age the Lord would give 
her a son ; and she persuaded Abram to 
follow the custom of those days, and take 




48 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

her maid for a wife. Abram listened to 
Sarai; and a son, Ishmael, was born to him. 
But though Abram loved Ishmael, and a 
special blessing was pronounced upon him, 
he was not the promised heir. 

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, 
the Lord talked with him once more, and 
changed his name to Abraham, which 
means " the father of a great multitude." 
Sarai's name also was changed to Sarah, or 
" the princess of the multitude." 




Twenty-five years after Abraham and 
Sarah first entered Canaan, the long-prom- 
ised son was born, and was named Isaac, 
as the Lord had directed. When the child 
was weaned, his fond parents made a feast, 
or party, for him, that all the servants and 
other members of the large household might 
recognize him as their master's heir. Ish- 
mael, who was now a youth, had been 
taught by his mother that this honor be- 



The Friend of God 



49 



longed to him ; and when he saw Isaac rec- 
ognized as his father's successor, he mocked; 
that is, he taunted and ridiculed the child. 

For this, Sarah asked that Ishmael, with 
Hagar his mother, be sent away; and 
though Abraham loved his first-born son 
dearly, and was pained at the thought of 
his being driven from home, the Lord told 
him to listen to Sarah, and do as she sug- 
gested. So Ishmael was sent away, with 
his mother. " And God was with the lad." 

Abraham's faith had failed to stand the 
test of waiting for the birth of Isaac ; so 
when the young man was about twenty 
years old, the Lord tried his servant again. 
" Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, 
whom thou lovest," he said, " and get thee 
into the land of Moriah ; and offer him 
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the 
mountains which I will tell thee of." 

Abraham had doubted God before ; but in 
this supreme test, his faith did not fail. 
With a heavy heart, he prepared the wood 
and the fire, and with his son and two serv- 
ants set out on the journey. After they 
had traveled three days, the place came in 
sight, " afar off." Then, bidding the serv- 

4 






50 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

ants stay where they were till he should 
return, Abraham went on alone with Isaac. 

"Father," said Isaac, as they walked along 
together, " behold the fire and the wood : 
but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" 
Though this question filled Abraham's heart 
with sorrow, he still trusted in God. " My 
son," he answered, " God will provide him- 
self a lamb." 

And God honored his servant's faith. 
When, with upraised knife, Abraham was 
about to take the life of his beloved son, the 
angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, 
and said: " Lay not thine hand upon the lad; 
. . . for now I know that thou fearest God, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine 
only son from me." 

Then Abraham looked, " and behold be- 
hind him a ram caught in a thicket by his 
horns. And Abraham went and took the 
ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering 
in the stead of his son. " 

When Isaac was forty years old, and his 

mother was dead, Abraham sent his trusted 

> servant, Eliezer (El-i-e-zer) , with servants, 

camels, and gifts, to his old home to choose 

a wife for his son. At Haran, in Mesopo- 




ON THE WAY TO MOUNT MORIAH 



CT 




52 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

ap, tamia, Eliezer stopped near a well, where 
at evening the daughters of the city came 
to draw water. Not willing to trust his own 
wisdom in a matter so important as choos- 
ing a wife for his master's son, Eliezer 
prayed for divine guidance ; and the Lord 
directed him to Rebecca, a beautiful, kind- 
hearted kinswoman of Abraham. That night 
Eliezer stayed in her father's house ; and 
the next day, attended by her nurse and 
maidens, Rebecca went away with him to 
become Isaac's wife. " And he loved her: 
and Isaac was comforted after his mother's 
death." 

Abraham lived to be a hundred and 
seventy-five years old. Then, full of years 
and honors, he died ; and Isaac, assisted by 
Ishmael, now a powerful desert chief, buried 
him by the side of Sarah in the Cave of 
Machpelah, in Mamre. 





->r 



VII 

The Destruction of the Cities of the Pl&in 

ONE day as Abraham sat in his tent door, 
he looked up, and saw three travelers 
coming toward him. One of these he rec- 
ognized as the Lord, who had talked with 
him so often. He ran to meet the men, 
and begged them to rest in the cool shade 
of a tree, — for it was in "the heat of the 
day/' — and to accept water to wash their 
feet, according to the custom of that coun- 
try and time, while he hastened to prepare 
a simple meal for them. It is interesting 
to know what composed this little feast, and 
the Bible tells us all about it. While Sarah 
made cakes of " fine meal," and baked them 
on the hearth, Abraham brought a calf, 
" tender and good," from the herd, and gave 
it to one of his servants to dress and cook. 
When all was ready, he took the meat and 
the cakes, with "butter and milk," and set 

53 






54 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

them before his guests in the pleasant 
shade of the tree. What an honor was 
Abraham's — to entertain and feed the Lord 
of heaven and earth, with two of his angels ! 
But this honor was not given to Abraham 
alone; every one who loves the Lord can 
minister to him. He has told us that what- 
ever we do to the poorest and humblest of his 
brethren, he accepts as if done to himself. 

When the travelers started again on their 
journey, Abraham went a little way with 
them. Then the Lord said, " Shall I hide 
from Abraham that thing which I do?" 
Sending the two angels on toward Sodom, 
he told his servant that because of the great 
sin of the cities of the plain, which had 
come up before him, he was going down to 
visit them. Abraham understood that the 
Lord would destroy those wicked cities, and 
the thought of his nephew Lot and his 
household filled him with alarm. With love 
and longing he pleaded that the cities might 
be spared ; and the Lord told Abraham that 
if even so few as ten persons who feared and 
served him could be found there, he would 
not destroy the city. 

While the Lord thus talked to Abraham, 



Destruction of the Cities of the Plain 55 



the two men drew near Sodom. It was 
evening when they entered the city ; and 
Lot, who was sitting in the gate, saw them, 
and urged them to go home with him. 

As night drew on, the men of the city 
surrounded Lot's house, and demanded that 
he deliver up to them the strangers under 
his roof. Lot went outside, closing the door 
after him, and tried to 
persuade the angry mob 
to go away ; but the 
more he talked, the more 
angry they became. 
They would have killed <- 
Lot then, had not the 
two men opened the door and drawn him in- 
side. At the same time they smote the men 
of Sodom with blindness, so they could not 
fin 1 the door. 

Then the angels told Lot that they had 
come to destroy the city ; and urged him to 
hasten and tell his sons and daughters, and 
warn them to leave the place. Lot went 
that very night to the homes of his sons-in- 
law, and told them of the terrible destruc- 
tion that would come on the city. But they 
paid no heed to his words ; to their blindecl 





56 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

understanding, he seemed like one who 
mocked — who did not know what he said. 

In the morning, urged on by the angels, 
Lot took his wife and two daughters, and 
prepared to go away. But oh, it was hard 
for him to leave his beautiful home — to 
leave forever the precious things he had 
spent so many years getting together ! As 
he " lingered, the men laid hold upon his 
hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and 
upon the hand of his two daughters, " and 
brought them forth out of the city, " the 
Lord being merciful unto him." 

When the angels had brought Lot and 
his family outside the city, they told him 
to hasten to the mountain. " Look not be- 
hind thee/' they cried, "lest thou be con- 
sumed. " But even then Lot stopped to 
argue with the heavenly messengers. His 
heart failed him, and he begged to be al- 
lowed to find refuge in the little city of 
Zoar, instead of the mountain. 

As they fled, Lot's wife turned to look 
once more at the home she had loved. Per- 
haps she thought that, after all, the city 
would not be destroyed, and she might go 
back ; but as she looked, she was turned to 




kOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS I*EAVE SODOM 



57 



58 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

a pillar of salt, and Lot and his daughters 
were obliged to leave her there as they ran 
for their lives. 

"The sun was risen" when they entered 
Zoar ; and it was about this time, though 
still very " early in the morning," that 
Abraham went with an anxious heart to 
the place where he had talked with the 
Lord the night before, and looked toward 
Sodom. " And he looked toward Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the 
plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the 
country went up as the smoke of a fur- 
nace." Then Abraham knew that not ten 
persons were found in those five, cities to 
heed the warning of the angels. 

As we read the story of Lot and of the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we are 
led to wonder at the Lord's love and good- 
ness to his weak, sinful children. How 
much safer and happier are those who listen 
to his counsel, and gladly obey when he 
speaks ! 




J&cob 




s&xi 



ISAAC and Rebecca had two sons. Esan, 
the elder, is described as a u hairy man," 
a " cunning hunter," a " man of the field." 
He had no settled home, but wandered from 
one place to another. Jacob, his brother, 
was a " plain man ; " he lived in tents, as 
did his father and his grandfather Abraham, 
and cared for the flocks and herds. 

One day when Esau came in from the 
field, where he had been hunting, he found 
Jacob making pottage. Instead of setting 
food before Esau, who was weary and faint, 
Jacob offered to feed him in return for his 
birthright, — a special blessing which be- 
longed, according to the custom of those 
days, to the eldest son. It included not 
only the bulk of the father's inheritance, 
but the one who received it also became the 
head of the family, and his brothers were 

59 




6o Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




to be subject to him. More than this, it 
was through the line of the eldest sons 
that the promised Saviour would come. 

But Esau, like Cain, did not believe in 
the One who was to come to earth to shed 
his blood for men ; and this unbelief itself 
made him unworthy the great honor of the 
birthright blessing. Thus, though he was 
not far from his father's tents, where there 
was plenty of food, Esau listened to Jacob, 
and for a dish of pottage sold what was 
beyond price. In this matter both Jacob 
and Esau did wrong — one in taking ad- 
vantage of his brother's need ; the other in 
treating with contempt the blessing of God. 

Years afterward, when Isaac was old and 
blind, he called Esau to him, and asked 
him to prepare " savory meat," such as he 
loved, that he might give him the birth- 
right blessing before he died. Now though 
Esau had sold his birthright, and therefore 
it did not belong to him, he did not intend 
to allow Jacob to have the blessing ; so he 
said nothing about having sold his birth- 
right, but went out to get venison to pre- 
pare the savory meat for Isaac. 

But Rebecca heard what Isaac said, and 




ISAAC BLESSING HIS SON JACOB 




62 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

she persuaded Jacob to deceive his father, 
that he might receive the blessing. While 
Esau was away hunting, Jacob killed two 
kids, and his mother prepared savory meat. 
Then she took the " goodly raiment " of 
Esau, and put it on Jacob ; and bound the 
skins of the kids on his hands and neck, 
that when Isaac should feel them, he would 
think that Esau was before him. 

Jacob took the meat, and went in before 
his father with a lie on his lips. "I am 
Esau thy first-born," he said ; " I have done 
according as thou badest me : arise, I pf%y 
thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy 
soul may bless me." 

But Isaac was troubled. When he asked 
how it was that the venison had been so 
quickly found, Jacob replied that the Lord 
had helped him. Still in doubt, the blind 
father called Jacob to his side, and felt of 
his hands. " The voice," he said, " is 
Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands 
of Esau." Then he ate, and drank, and 
kissed Jacob, and blessed him. 

A long time before this, the Lord had 
told Rebecca that her elder son should 
serve the younger ; and if she and Jacob 



Jacob and Esa 



71 



63 



had been content to wait for him to bring 
this abont in his own way, they would have 
saved themselves much sorrow. But they 
were not willing to trust him ; so he allowed 
them to take their own way, and learn by 
a hard experience the lesson of trust. 

Isaac was no sooner through blessing 
Jacob than Esau came in. And when he 
learned what had been done, and what he 
had lost, he was filled with anger and sor- 
row, " and cried with a great and exceeding 
bitter cry." He begged earnestly for " one 
blessing;" so Isaac blessed him with "the fat- 
ness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven," 
but told him plainly that he should serve 
his brother. Then Esau hated Jacob, and 
determined to kill him. 

Rebecca's love for her younger son made 
her quick to see when danger threatened 
him ; and she told him of Esau's plans, and 
begged him to leave home for a while, until 
Esau's anger should be turned away. She 
thought that in a few weeks or months 
Esau would forget his anger, and Jacob 
might come home again. But Esau had not 
learned the grace of forgiveness. In another 
place in the Bible we are told that he "cast 




64 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

off all pity," and that lie " kept his anger 
forever." So we see that in thns sending 
Jacob from home until his brother's anger 
should be turned away, Rebecca was send- 
ing him from her forever. For although 
he finally did return, it was after many long 
years had passed, and he was himself the 
head of a family. Never again did he take 




up his duties as the trusted son in his 
father's home. Saddest of all, his mother 
died while he was away ; so he never saw 
her again. When Isaac learned of Rebecca's 
purpose, he called Jacob to him, blessed him 
again, and told him to go to Laban, Rebec- 
ca's brother, and stay a while with him. 



Jacob and Esau 



65 




Now Jacob had the blessing ; but he had 
gained it by fraud, and was obliged to flee 
for his life. He was learning 
that no real good can ever be 
gained by cheating. With a 
heavy heart he bade farewell ,. * ^ to his 

father and mother, and ^ - leaving 

Beersheba, set out ., L *~ on the long, 

lonely journey * - ~ to Haran. 

While / - " the L o r d hated 

Jacob's * - sins, he loved him, and 

v -.'as ^ / :m with him all the way, to keep 

+^f~* him from harm. At one place 

where Jacob lay down on the ground 
to sleep, with a stone for a pillow, he had a 
wonderful dream. A ladder appeared resting 
on the ground, with its top reaching to 
heaven. Going up and down this ladder 
was a host of shining angels, and at the 
top was the Lord himself, who spoke to 
Jacob, and renewed to him the promises so 
often made to Abraham and Isaac concern- 
ing the land of Canaan. After telling Jacob 
that all this land should belong to his 
children, the Lord spoke these gracious 
words : " And, behold, I am with thee, and 
will keep thee in all places whither thou 
5 



r *V - 




V5 




66 



JACOB'S WONDERFUL DREAM 



Jacob and Esau 67 

goest, and will bring thee again into this 
land ; for I will not leave thee, until I have 
done that which I have spoken to thee of." 

This promise is written for us, too. Jacob 
was comforted by this dream ; and when he 
awoke, he set up the stone he had used as 
a pillow to mark the spot, and called the 
name of the place " Bethel," which means 
" the house of God." And Jacob promised 
that of all the Lord should give him, he 
would surely give the tenth to him. In 
this we see that Jacob, like his grandfather 
Abraham, paid to the Lord the tithe, which 
he reserves for himself. The Lord does not 
ask us to perform this duty because he needs 
our pennies and dimes and dollars, but be- 
cause he knows that the only way to live 
is to give. Selfishness will very quickly 
drive the Love -spirit out of the heart, but 
the Giving- spirit will throw its doors wide 
open to receive Heaven's richest blessings. 

After many days Jacob came to Haran, 
the city where his mother, Rebecca, spent 
her girlhood, and to which Eliezer had come, 
so many years before, with servants and 
camels and costly presents, to take her to 
be his father's wife. As he was resting 








68 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

near a well, and doubtless thinking of all 
these things, he asked some shepherds, who 
had come to water their flocks, if they knew 
Laban. They not only knew him, but said 
that his daughter Rachel would soon come 
to the well to water her flock. When she 
came, Jacob watered the sheep for her, and 
told her who he was, and she ran and told 
her father. Then Laban came out to meet 
Jacob, and took him to his house. 

Jacob did not sit down in idleness at his 
uncle's. Indeed, after he had been there a 
month, Laban was so pleased with his serv- 
ice that he offered him wages. Jacob asked 
that he might be permitted to serve seven 
years for Rachel, whom he loved. That is 
a long time ; but the Bible tells us that 
these years seemed but a few days to Jacob, 
because of his love for Rachel. When they 
were passed, Laban cheated him, and gave 
him his elder daughter, Leah, instead of 
Rachel, for a wife. Then Jacob worked 
seven years longer for Rachel, and six other 
years for cattle. And the Lord blessed him, 
so that he became rich and prosperous. 

Laban' s sons were envious when they 
saw the prosperity of Jacob, and they ac- 




RACHEL DRAWING WATER FOR HER FLOCK 



69 



jo Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




cused him of taking what did not belong to 
him. Laban believed his sons, and Jacob 
saw that he was no longer trusted. Then 
the Lord spoke to him, and bade him return 
to the land of his kindred, and promised to 
be with him. So when Laban went away 
to shear his sheep, Jacob gathered his flocks 
and herds together, and with his wives and 
little ones set out for the land of Canaan. 

Now while Laban was always ready to 
cheat Jacob, and not slow to accuse him of 
dishonesty, he was shrewd enough to know 
that Jacob had served him faithfully, and 
he did not wish him to go away. As soon 
as he heard that Jacob had gone, he took his 
brethren and set out after him, intending to 
make him return ; but the Lord spoke to 
Laban by the way, and commanded him not 
to harm Jacob in any way, nor try to get 
him to go back. So the meeting ended 
pleasantly, after all, Jacob and Laban cove- 
nanting together not to pass a certain pillar 
and heap of stones, to do each other harm. 
Jacob offered sacrifices; they ate bread to- 
gether ; and the next morning Laban kissed 
his children, blessed them, and went away. 

But Jacob's troubles were not yet over. 



Jacob and Esau 71 

He soon learned that Esan was coming to 
meet him, with four hundred armed men. 
Jacob well knew that he could never repulse 
this company if they were unfriendly, and in 
his deep distress he called on the Lord to 
help him. Then he sent rich presents of 
cattle and sheep and camels to Esau, and 
sent his family across the brook Jabbok, he 
himself remaining behind to pray. " And 
there wrestled a man with him until the break- 
ing of the day." In spite of his efforts, 
Jacob could not prevail against his unknown 
antagonist, who, toward morning, touched 
his thigh, and put it out of joint. Then 
Jacob knew that he was wrestling with a 
heavenly messenger ; and though weak, ex- 
hausted, and suffering keenest pain, when 
the Angel said, " Let me go, for the day 
breaketh," he cried out, " I will not let thee 
go, except thou bless me." Then the Angel 
blessed Jacob, and told him that his name 
should no more be called Jacob, but Israel, 
or prince. Therefore his descendants were 
called Israelites. 

By this experience Jacob knew that the 
Lord was indeed with him, and that he had 
nothing to fear from his brother and his 



0m 



=^^> "" ? *rr-, _ 




72 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

armed guard ; so when Esau came in sight, 
he went out to meet him. Esau ran toward 
Jacob, " and embraced him, and kissed him." 
Thus because of Jacob's faith the Lord 
changed Esau's purpose to harm his brother. 
After talking with Jacob in a friendly man- 
ner, Esau took his soldiers and went away. 

After living for a while at Succoth and at 
Shalem, Jacob went to Bethel. It was here, 
you remember, that the Lord appeared to 
him in a dream, and promised to be with 
him. How wonderfully had he fulfilled his 
promise ! Then, Jacob was a fugitive, going 
alone to seek a home among strangers in 
a far country ; now, he was the head of a 
large family, and rich in all that made up 
wealth in those days. As Jacob thought 
of these things, his heart was filled with 
gratitude to the One who had watched over 
him in all his journeyings. 

Deborah, Rebecca's aged nurse, who had 
gone with her young mistress when she 
went with Eliezer to become the wife of 
Isaac, died at Bethel, and was buried under 
an oak. Not long afterward Rachel, the 
dearly loved wife of Jacob, died also, and 
was buried at Bethlehem, 



Jacob and Esau 73 

At last " Jacob came unto Isaac his father 
unto Mamre." It was thirty years since 
the day when, in haste and fear, he had 
fled from the wrath of Esau. How glad 
the aged patriarch must have been to wel- 
come his son home again, and to hear from 
his own lips how the Lord had blessed him 
during his long absence. No doubt Jacob 
told his father of the beautiful dream at 
Bethel, and the comforting promises that 
the Lord made him there, as well as of 
his long service in the house of Laban, 
the blessing at the brook Jabbok, and the 
peaceful meeting with Esau. But there was 
one thing to make them sad — Rebecca was 
dead. 

" And the days of Isaac were an hundred 
and fourscore years. And Isaac . . . died, 
and was gathered unto his people, being 
old and full of days : and his sons Esau 
and Jacob buried him." 



^SQ^MM 





74 



JOSEPH'S DREAM OF THE SHEAVES 




AFTER Isaac's death, Jacob and his sons 
Ji\ still lived in the land of Canaan ; but 
because, like Abraham and Lot many years 
before, Jacob and Esau had more cattle and 
sheep than could find food in one place, 
Esau took his family and servants, his 
flocks and herds, and all his substance, and 
went to live in the land of Mount Sier, or 
Edom, as it was afterward called. 

Jacob had twelve sons, — Reuben, Simeon, 
Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, 
Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. 
Most of them were men grown when Jacob 
came again to his father's house ; but Joseph 
and Benjamin, the sons of Rachel, were 
still young in years. 

" Now Israel loved Joseph more than all 
his children;" and as a mark of special 
favor he gave him a beautiful, bright-colored 
coat. This kindled the anger of Joseph's 
brothers ; " and they hated him, and could 
not speak peaceably unto him." About this 

75 




J& Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




and for his sake blessed the Egyptian's 
house also. Potiphar was so pleased with 
Joseph's service that he gave him entire 
charge of his house and of everything that 
he had. 

For ten years Joseph lived in Potiphar's 
home as his trusted and honored servant. 
Then it came about that he had to choose 
between two courses,- — whether he would do 
wrong, and continue in favor in his master's 
house, or do right in the sight of Heaven, 
and be wrongfully accused, and perhaps 
even lose his life. Joseph did not hesitate. 
He chose to walk in the right path, with a 
pure heart, even with the result that he 
was bound in fetters, and cast into a dun- 
geon. 

But the same Friend who had been Jo- 
seph's helper in the captain's house was 
with him in prison, and " gave him favor 
in the sight of the keeper," who soon gave 
Joseph charge of his fellow prisoners. " The 
Lord was with him, and that which he did, 
the Lord made it to prosper." 

And it came to pass that the King's 
chief butler and chief baker were cast into 
prison, and put under Joseph's charge. One 



Joseph 



11 



Reuben persuaded his brothers not to 
kill Joseph, but to put him in an empty 
pit ; and this they did, first stripping him 
of the gay coat that had aroused their jeal- 
ous anger. What an unkind reception was 
this for the weary, footsore boy ! Reuben 
hoped that he might be able to save Joseph, 
and restore him again to his father ; but { 
when, after feeding his sheep, he came back 
to the pit, it was empty ! 

A company of traders, or merchantmen, 
from Mt. Gilead, going down to Egypt, had 
passed by; and at Judah's suggestion, Joseph 
was brought up, sold for a few pieces of 
silver, and carried away to be sold as a 
slave. Think of it ! a tenderly reared, 
dearly loved son of a rich father, sold into 
cruel bondage in a foreign land ! We can 
not even imagine the grief and desolation 
that filled Joseph's heart as he thought of 
the cruelty of his brothers, the unknown 
fate awaiting him, and the anguish of his 
father when he should not return, — that 
father who would so quickly come to his 
rescue, did he only know his son's peril. 

Though Reuben was grieved at the fate 
of Joseph, he agreed with the others to de- 





78 Easy Steps in the Bible Study 

ceive Jacob. They dipped the bright coat 
in the blood of a kid, and brought it to 
their father, and said : " This have we found: 
know now whether it be thy son's coat or 
no." Then Jacob said, "It is my son's 
coat; an evil beast hath devoured him." 
" And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sack- 
cloth upon his loins, and mourned for his 




lb- 



son many days. And all his sons and all 
his daughters rose up to comfort him ; but 
he refused to be comforted." 

JOSEPH IN THE LAND OF EGYPT 

When the men who had bought Joseph 
reached Egypt, they sold him to Potiphar, 
the captain of the king's guard. Joseph was 
only seventeen years old when he entered 
the Egyptian's service ; but though he was 
so youug, he was faithful in all that was 
given him to do, and the Lord blessed him, 




JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BROTHERS 



79 



8o Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




time Joseph dreamed that as he and his 
brothers were binding sheaves in a field, 
their sheaves bowed down to his sheaf; and 
again, that the snn, moon, and stars made 
obeisance to him. These dreams his brothers 
interpreted to mean that they would some- 
time serve him ; and they were very angry 
at the thought, and hated Joseph " yet the 
more for his dreams." They had not 
learned that those who would be truly great 
must be willing to serve. 

Not long after this they went to She- 
chem, where Jacob had bought a field, to 
feed the sheep ; and Jacob, wishing to learn 
of their welfare, bade Joseph visit them, see 
if all was well, and bring him word again. 
With loving obedience, Joseph cheerfully 
set out on his errand; but when he reached 
Shechem, fifty miles from his father's tents, 
it was only to learn that his brothers had 
taken the flocks to Dothan, still farther 
away. They saw him coming, and with the 
Cain-spirit in their hearts, laid plans to kill 
him. " Behold," they said to one another, 
" this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, 
and let us slay him, . . . and we shall 
see what will become of his dreams." 



foseph 



81 



morning as he looked in at them, he noticed 
that they were troubled, and asked the cause 
of their sorrow. They replied that they 
had each dreamed a strange dream, that 
none could interpret. " Tell me them," said 
Joseph; and when he had heard the dream 
of the chief butler, he told him that in 
three days the king would restore him to 
favor, and that he would again go before 
him as his cupbearer. " Think on me when 
it shall be well with thee," entreated Joseph, 
" and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, 
and bring me out of this house : for indeed 
I was stolen away out of the land of the 
Hebrews : and here also have I done nothing 
that they should put me into the dungeon." 

When the chief baker heard the inter- 
pretation of his companion's dream, he re- 
peated his dream also ; and Joseph told him 
that in three days the king would take his 
life. 

All this came to pass as Joseph had 
said ; but when the royal butler was again 
in the king's favor, he forgot Joseph, who 
was left two " full years " longer in prison. 
This life must have been especially hard for 
him ; for he had spent all his youth in the 

6 





82 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

open fields, under the wide blue skies. But 
the Lord was teaching him during these 
years, and was preparing the way for his 
deliverance in his own time. 




JOSEPH AS RULER OF EGYPT 

The great king Pharaoh had two dreams 
in one night, and none of his magicians or 
wise men were able to tell him their mean- 
ing. Then the chief butler remembered Jo- 
seph, and told the king how a " young man, 
a Hebrew," had interpreted his dream and 
that of the chief baker. The king sent for 
Joseph at once, and they brought him 
" hastily " — " made him run " — out of the 
prison. When the king asked him about 
his ability to interpret dreams, Joseph gave 
the praise to God. " It is not in me," he 
modestly declared ; but added the cheering 
assurance, " God shall give Pharaoh an an- 
swer of peace." 

Then the king told his dreams, — how 
he stood on the bank of a stream, and saw 
seven fat, well-favored cattle come up out 
of the river, and feed in a meadow ; and 



Joseph 



83 



after them came up seven lean cattle, " poor 
and very ill-favored, " such as had never 
been seen " in all the land of Egypt for 
badness ; " and they ate up the seven fat 
cattle, and were still as lean as before. 
Again, he dreamed that seven full ears of 
corn came up on one stalk, followed by 
seven withered ears, " blasted with an east 
wind ; " and that the poor ears ate up 
the good. 

Joseph told the king that both these 
dreams meant the same thing, — that there 
would be seven years of plenty, followed by 
seven years of dire famine. " Now there- 
fore," added Joseph, " let Pharaoh look out 
a man discreet and wise, and set him over 
the land of Egypt." This man should 








appoint others to work for him ; and during 
the seven years of plenty, they should 
store up food for the future years of famine. 
We might think it strange that a 
mighty kiug, the head of the greatest and 
most learned nation in the world, should 



84 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




listen to the advice of a disgraced slave, — 
a young man only thirty years old,- — but 
the power with Joseph was the power of 
God, and the king recognized the wisdom 
of his words. 

Pharaoh called his counselors together, 
and laid the matter before them. " Can we 
find such a one as this is, a man in whom 
the Spirit of God is ? " he inquired. There 
were many wise men, many who were dis- 
creet, but only one who fully answered the 
requirement of the king. 

So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over all 
the land of Egypt; and he "took off his 
ring from his hand, and put it upon Jo- 
seph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of 










r~ 



fine linen, and put a gold chain about his 
neck ; and he made him to ride in the second 
chariot which he had ; and they cried before 
him, Bow the knee." " Only in the throne," 
said the king, " will I be greater than thou." 



Joseph 85 

If Joseph had been puffed up by these 
honors, his usefulness would shortly have 
come to an end ; but he had learned the 
lesson of trust and humility, and depended 
on the Lord for wisdom. With the same 
faithfulness and dispatch with which he 
had managed Potiphar's affairs, he took up 
the great work under his hand, and quickly 
laid plans to prepare for the seven years 
of famine. In every city and town in the f 
kingdom he built storehouses, and appointed 
men to fill them with grain. " And Joseph 
gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very 
much, until he left numbering ; for it was 
without number." 

When seven years were passed, the fam- 
ine came, not only in Egypt, where the 
people were prepared to meet it, but " over 
all the earth." It was severely felt in 
Canaan, the home of Jacob. " And all 
countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to 
buy corn." 

JOSEPH'S BRETHREN COME TO BUY CORN 

When Jacob's family was nearly out of 
food, he sent his ten sons down to Egypt 
to buy corn; only Benjamin, the youngest, 




86 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




he kept at home, not daring to send him 
away, lest evil should befall him. At last, 
with many other travelers who had gone 
down to Egypt for food, Joseph's brethren 
came before him. " And Joseph knew his 
brethren, bnt they knew not him." 

As Joseph remembered the evil ways of 
these men and their cruelty toward him at 
Dothan, and how they had mocked at his 
dreams, he spoke harshly to them, and ac- 
cused them of having come down to spy out 
the leanness of the land. In the denials and 
explanations that followed, Joseph learned 
that his father and Benjamin were still alive. 
" Thy servants are twelve brethren," they said, 
" the sons of one man in the land of Canaan ; 
and, behold, the youngest is this day with 
our father, and one is not." 

Now, said the ruler of Egypt, I will see 
if you are telling the truth. One of you 
shall return to your land, and bring your 
younger brother before me. In this way 
shall your words be proved, that I may 
know whether there is any truth in you. 
Then he put them in prison for three days. 
At the end of that time he brought them 
out, and told them that one of them should 



Joseph 



87 



remain bound in the prison, as a hostage; 
but that the rest might return home with 
food for their families, provided they would 
bring their youngest brother down to him. 
While they were in prison, uncertain what 
was to happen to them, the sons of Jacob 
had thought of their cruel course toward 
Joseph; and now, in their perplexity, they 
spoke among themselves, not knowing that 
the governor could understand their words. 
" We are verily guilty," they said, " con- 
cerning our brother, in that we saw the 
anguish of his soul, when he besought us, 
and we would not hear; therefore is this 
distress come upon us." 

But Joseph understood their words ; and 
as he listened, and the thought of that 
dreadful time came back so plainly to his 
mind, his grief was great, and he went 
away and wept. Then he bound Simeon, 
who had been one of the leaders in the 
cruel treatment of Joseph when he was sold 
into slavery, before the eyes of his brothers, 
and, commanding that their sacks be filled 
with corn, he sent them away. He told his 
steward privately to put every man's money 
in the sack with his corn ; and when his 




88 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

brothers found it, their hearts failed them. 
There was no food to be had but in Egypt, 
— and how would they dare return to that 
land, to be charged with being thieves as 
well as spies? 

Jacob was told the whole story, — how 
his sons were accused of coming to spy out 
the land, were thrust into prison, and finally 
released only on condition that they bring 
Benjamin down to Egypt. The aged father's 
sorrow was great at the thought of parting 
with his youngest son, and he declared : 
" My son shall not go down with you ; for 
his brother is dead, and he is left alone : 
if mischief befall him by the way in the 
which ye go, then shall ye bring down my 
gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." 



THE SECOND JOURNEY 

" And the famine was sore in the land." 
Then Jacob spoke to his sons, and asked 
them to go again to Egypt for food ; but 
they told him it was of no use to go with- 
out Benjamin. And at last, because their 
need was great, Jacob gave his consent, 







Joseph 89 

Judah making a solemn pledge to restore 
Benjamin to his father in safety. Taking 
a present for the governor, double money in 
their sacks, and their youngest brother with 
them, the sons of Jacob set out again for 

Egypt. 

At Joseph's house they talked with the 
steward, and told him they were not able ^ 
to explain how the money came to be in 
their sacks ; but that they had brought with /ipr> y*fi) 
them double money this time, to pay both 
for what they had at first and what they 
now wished to buy. He spoke kindly to 
them, and assured them that he had had 
their money ; then he brought Simeon out 
to them, and invited them into the house. 

" And when Joseph came home, they 
brought him the present which was in their 
hand into the house, and bowed themselves 
to him to the earth. And he asked them 
of their welfare, and said, Is your father 
well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is 
he yet alive?" At the sight of Benjamin, 
all the homesick love and longing of Jo- 
seph's heart awoke, and he could only say, 
" God be gracious unto thee, my son," and 
turn hastily aside to his chamber to weep. 



90 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

"And lie washed his face, and went out, 
and refrained himself, and said, Set on 
bread." Arranging his brothers according 
to their ages, at a table by themselves, he 
sent them food from before him, giving five 
times as much to Benjamin as to the others. 
This he did to see if his brothers were 
envious of Benjamin, as they had been of 
him ; but they had had a bitter lesson, and 
the sight of their father's continued mourn- 
ing for Joseph led them to cherish Ben- 
jamin as tenderly as Jacob himself could 
desire. 

Joseph again directed his steward to put 
every man's money in his sack with his 
grain, and further told him to put his own 
silver cup in Benjamin's sack, and so sent 
his brothers away. Glad indeed were they 
to be gone ; for their minds had been 
troubled and filled with forebodings. But 
they had gone only a little way when the 
steward came out hastily after them, and 
asked why they had rewarded evil for 
good, and stolen his lord's cup. So sure 
were Jacob's sons of their innocence in this 
matter, that they rashly declared that the 
one with whom the cup was found should 



Joseph 



9* 



die, and the rest would become the gov- 
ernor's slaves. They quickly took down 
their sacks and opened them : and the 
cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 

With heavy hearts they all went back 
to Joseph's house, and bowed before him on 
the ground, thus fulfilling the dream he 
had had so many years before. Joseph 
listened to their words, and finally told 
them to get up and go in peace to their 
father — only Benjamin must stay with him. 

Then Judah spoke to Joseph, and told 
him of his aged father's love for this son ; 
and how, at first, he had refused, even in 
the face of famine, to let him go away. He 
told Joseph that he had become surety for 
the lad, and begged to be allowed to stay 
in his place. "Now therefore," said he, 
"when I come to thy servant my father, 
and the lad be not 
with us, ... he 
will die : and thy 
servants shall bring 
down the gray hairs 
of thy servant our 
father with sorrow to 
the grave." 




£^ 




to 
W 

o 

to 

w 
o 



o 

W 
to 

w 

to 
W 



w 

to 
O 






Joseph 



93 



By this heart-touching appeal Joseph was 
fully satisfied that his brothers loved Ben- 
jamin and honored their father; and sending 
out of the room all those that stood by, he 
made himself known to them, saying, " I 
am Joseph ; doth my father yet live ? " 
Fear filled the hearts of Jacob's sons ; for 
they thought Joseph would 
surely kill them. But he 
called them to him, and told 
them not to be grieved nor 
angry with themselves because 
they had sold him as a slave. 
" For God," he said, " did send 
me before you to preserve j 
life." And he fell on Ben- 
jamin's neck, and wept, and kissed him ; 
and " he kissed all his brethren, and wept 
upon them." He cherished no feeling of 
revenge in his heart, but forgave them 
freely. 

Then Joseph told his brothers to return 
at once to their father, and tell him what 
they had seen, and bring him and all his 
house down to Egypt ; for there were still 
five years of famine to come. He gave them 
wagons to bring back their families, and 




94 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

sent rich presents of " the good things of 
Egypt" to his father, with corn and bread 
and meat. He also gave changes of rai- 
ment to his brothers ; bnt to Benjamin he 
gave more than to the others, and added to 
the gift a hundred pieces of silver. And as 
they went away, he gave them this wise 
caution : " See that ye fall not out by the 
way." 

When Jacob's sons told him all that had 
happened to them, and that Joseph, so long 
mourned as dead, was alive, and the ruler 
over all the land of Egypt, his " heart 
fainted, for he believed them not : " but 
when he saw the wagons and the gifts, 
hope revived in his heart, and he said: "It 
is enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive : I 
will go and see him before I die." 

JACOB IN EGYPT 

Jacob therefore made ready for the jour- 
ney, gathering together his goods and his 
sons and daughters, with their little ones, 




Joseph 



95 



and set out for Egypt. At Beersheba he 
offered sacrifices, and the Lord spoke to 
him in a vision, promising to go with him, 
to make of him a mighty nation in the 
land, and surely to bring his descendants 
up out of it again. 

When Joseph learned that his father was 
come to Goshen, he made ready his chariot 
and went to meet him ; " and he fell on his 
neck, and wept on his neck a good while." 

The king told Joseph to give his father 
and brothers the best of the land for a 
dwelling-place; so Joseph gave them the 
land of Goshen, which was suited to their $ 
occupation as shepherds. Here they might 
live by themselves, and become a mighty 
nation, as the Lord had said. " And Israel 
dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country 
of Goshen ; and they had possessions therein, 
and grew, and multiplied exceedingly." 

Jacob was one hundred and thirty years 
old when he went down to Joseph, and he 
lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt. 
When the time drew near that he should 
die, he asked Joseph to promise that he 
should not be buried in that land, but that 
his body should be taken back to the land 




S*s^ 



96 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

of his fathers. Not long after this, he 
blessed Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim 
and Manasseh, who, he declared, should be 
as his own, and should be called by his 
name. 

" And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I 
die: but God shall be with you, and bring 
you again unto the land of your fathers." 




The last act of Jacob's life was to call 
all his sons to him, and tell them what 
should happen to them in the last days. 

Joseph's grief at the death of his father 
was deep and sincere: and he fell upon "his 
father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed 
him." Then he called the physicians to 
embalm Jacob ; and after the days of mourn- 
ing were over, he went to bury him. "And 
with him went up all the servants of Pha- 



Joseph 97 

raoh, the elders of his house, and all the 
elders of the land of Egypt, and all the 
house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his 
father's house. . . . And there went up 
with him both chariots and horsemen, and it 
was a very great company." 

At last they reached the cave of Mach- 
pelah, which Abraham had bought as a 
burial-place for Sarah, and where he was 
afterward buried by Isaac and Ishmael. Here, 
too, Isaac and Rebecca were laid ; and here 
Jacob had buried Leah. And now, with the 
honors befitting the head of his tribe and 
the father of Egypt's mighty ruler, the 
aged patriarch was laid to rest with his 
fathers . 

THE LAST DAYS OF JOSEPH 

When Joseph's brothers went back to 
Egypt, they thought perhaps, now that 
Jacob was dead, Joseph would avenge him- 
self on them ; and they sent a messenger 
to him, praying his forgiveness for their 
cruelty to him, afterward coming themselves 
and bowing down before him. It must have 
pained Joseph to think they could thus dis- 
trust him, when they had received only good 

7 




98 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

from him ; but he did not reproach them. 
He gave them a message of peace, and 
comforted them. 

Joseph lived fifty-four years after the 
death of his father ; and before his death 
he repeated to his people the dying words 
of Jacob : " I die : and God will surely visit 
you, and bring you out of this land unto 
the land which he sware to Abraham, to 
Isaac, and to Jacob." 

Joseph also took an oath of the children 
of Israel that when the time came for them 
to return to their own land, they would 
surely carry his bones up with them. "So 
Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years 
old : and they embalmed him, and he was 
put in a coffin in Egypt." 





PERHAPS you remember how, many 
years before ever Joseph played in his 
father's tents, or was sold as a slave by his 
brothers, the Lord appeared to his great- 
grandfather Abraham, and told him what 
should happen to his descendants. " Know 
of a surety," said the Lord, " that thy seed 
shall be a stranger in a land that is not 
theirs, and shall serve them; . . . and af- 
terward shall they come out with great sub- 
stance." Then Isaac lived and grew rich in 
Canaan ; and afterward Jacob came back to 
that land with his wives, and children, and 
servants, and many sheep and cattle. 

Still the children of Jacob had no place 
that was really their own ; the nations al- 
ready living in Canaan were strong and 
warlike, and Jacob's sons had to move about 
from one place to another to find food for 
their flocks. Then came the great famine, 

99 

L. of C. 




&*m 



ioo Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




~*> 



about which we have already learned ; and 
Jacob and all his family went down to live 
in the land of Goshen, in Egypt, where 
there was pasture for their cattle, and food 
for their families. Here they increased in 
numbers, and grew strong and powerful. 
And this is how the children of Jacob, or 
the " children of Israel," as they were called 
after this, came to live in a land that was 
not theirs. 

As long as Joseph, the second ruler of 
Egypt, was alive, and for many years after 
his death, the Israelites lived in peace and 
plenty in the land of Goshen, and the Lord 
blessed them as he had said, and made of 
them a mighty nation. But after Joseph 
and his brothers died, with all who had 
lived in that time, another king sat on the 
throne, — a rich, powerful, and cruel mon- 
arch, who neither knew nor cared anything 
about Joseph, and how he had saved the 
land in time of famine. 

When this king saw how many of the 
Israelites there were, and how strong they 
had grown, he was afraid they would be- 
come stronger than the people of Egypt, 
and that in time of war, they would join 



Moses 



101 



the enemies of the Egyptians ; so he treated 
them as slaves, and set men over them to 
make them work harder. 

The Egyptians made the lives of God's 
people bitter with bondage. Day after day 
they were driven to work at making bricks, 
mixing mortar, and building cities for the 
king ; but in spite of all this, they grew 
more numerous, and increased in strength. 
Finally the king gave an order that every 
boy baby born among the children of Israel 
should be killed. If there were no little 
boys growing up, he thought, he could keep 
the people as slaves, and they would not try 
to go away, or to serve some other king. 

There were many mothers whose little 
children were taken from their loving arms, 
and thrown into the great River Nile, which 
the people of Egypt worshiped; but there 
was at least one who was able to conceal her 
beautiful baby for three months. After that, 
since she could no longer keep him safe at 
home, she made a little ark, or basket, and 
covered it with pitch inside and out to keep 
it from leaking. Laying the child in the 
basket, she set it among the flags — a tall 
plant, with long, sword-shaped leaves — grow- 





102 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




<ef 




ing thickly by the river-bank, with a 
prayer that God would watch over her little 
son and keep him alive. Miriam, the babe's 
sister, thoughtfully watched to see what 
would happen to him. 

By and by a lady, the daughter of the 
king himself, came down to the river with 
her maids to bathe. As she walked along 
its banks, she saw the ark among the flags, 
and sent one of her maids to bring it to 
her. When the cover was lifted, and the 
child saw only strange faces about him, he 
cried, just as baby brother would be likely 
to do to-day ; and the kind heart of the 
princess was moved with pity. She knew 
the child was one of the Hebrews' children ; 
and she knew, too that there was just one 
way to save his life. She would take him 
for her son — there was no command that 
the little princes of the royal line should 
be thrown into the Nile. 

Then wise little Miriam came up, and 
asked if she should call a nurse ; and on 
being told to do so, she ran quickly to her 
mother, and brought her to the princess. 
We can imagine how gladly the baby 
stretched out his tiny hands to that kind 



o 

m 
W 
xn 

W 

d 

o 
w 

w 



^ I 



I— I 



o 





104 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

face, and with what happiness his loving 
mother took the child in her arms. Then 
the princess told the mother to take the 
babe, and care for him, and she would pay 
her wages. 

When the little lad, whose life was so 
wonderfully kept, was twelve years old, his 
mother took him to the palace, and he be- 
came the son of the princess. He was 
called " Moses, " which means, " drawn out 
of the water.' ' 

The Lord had a special work for this 
child to do, and gave him a special training 
to prepare him for it. His early years were 
spent with his mother, who taught him 
about the creation, the flood, Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and that the 
time was coming when the Lord would de- 
liver the children of Israel from Egypt, and 
bring them into the land he had promised 
to give them. 

Moses lived in the palace of the king 
until he was forty years old. During these 
years he became " learned in all the wisdom 
of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words 
and in deeds." He was brave, daring, and 
wise ; and his heart was filled with sorrow 




MOSES TAKEN TO THE PRINCESS 



105 



io6 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

and anger when lie saw the bondage of his 
brethren. Perhaps he thought the Lord 
had raised hirn up to lead his people out of 
that land ; but while he trusted in his own 
strength and wisdom, the Lord could not 
use him for this work. One day he killed 
an Egyptian, who was beating a Hebrew ; 
and when the matter was brought to the 
ears of the king, Moses, even though he 
was the adopted son of the princess, was 
obliged to flee for his life. 

He went into the land of Midian, where 
he found a home with a priest called Jethro, 
and married one of his daughters. Here he 
stayed for forty years, living the life of 
a humble shepherd. In these long, quiet 
years, Moses came to know and trust the 
Lord. Instead of being proud of his learn- 
ing, he grew meek and teachable and hum- 
ble. These forty years were an important 
part of the fitting up of Moses for his later 



X-v work. 



>~N 



M^ 



One day when Moses had led his flock 



^%&tJ*& J out into the desert, he saw a strange 

*^Mm'm? s ig n t> — a bush appearing to burn, and 

%^^^^ yet not consumed. The flame did not 

jjp^^ die down, and leave smoking ashes where 



Moses 107 

the bush had stood. Moses wondered at the 
sight; and as he went nearer to look at it, 
the Lord told him to take off his shoes, for 
he was standing on holy ground. 

Then the Lord talked with Moses, and 
told him that he had seen the bondage of 
his people, and that he had remembered his 
promise, and had " come down to deliver 
them." He told Moses that he should lead 
the children of Israel out of Egypt, and 
that he must go before Pharaoh, the king, 
with a message from the Lord. Then Moses 
began to make excuses. He feared the 
king; the elders of Israel would not believe 
that the Lord had sent him ; he was not 
eloquent, but " of a slow tongue." 

The Lord was very patient with Moses. 
He told him that all the men were dead 
who sought his life, and added the comfort- 
ing promise, " Certainly I will be with 
thee." Lest the elders should not believe 
Moses, the Lord gave him three signs to 
convince them : first he cast his long shep- 
herd's staff, or rod, on the ground, and it 
became a serpent ; and when he took it by 
the tail, it changed again to a rod : second, 
he put his hand under the folds of his loose 




io8 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




dress, and drew it out white with leprosy, 
— a terrible, incurable disease ; and when 
he again put it in his bosom and drew it 
out, it was sound like the other : third, he 
was to take water from the river, and pour 
it upon the land, and it would become 
blood. When Moses still urged that he was 
slow of speech, the Lord said: "Who hath 
made man's mouth ? . . . have not I the 
Lord ? Now therefore go, and I will be 
with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou 
shalt say." Even after this, Moses tried to 
excuse himself ; and finally the Lord told 
him that Aaron, his brother, should go with 
him before the elders of Israel and before 
the king, and speak for him. 

Then Moses took his wife and his two 
sons, and started back to Egypt. Aaron 
came out to meet him in the wilderness ; 
and Moses told him all that the Lord had 
said, and showed him the signs that had 
been given him. When they returned to 
Goshen, the brothers called the elders of 
the people together, and told them that the 
time of their deliverance was near, and 
showed the signs before them. 




XI 

The Pl&gues of Egypt 

A FTER telling the elders of Israel the 
-ZjL good news that the time was near 
when they should go back to their own 
land, Moses and Aaron went to the king 
with the message, " Thus saith the Lord 
God of Israel, Let my people go, that they 
may hold a feast unto me in the wilder- 



ness. 



>j 



The proud king would not listen to this 
request ; he declared that he did not know 
the Lord, neither would he allow the Israel- 
ites to go away to worship him. He also 
accused Moses and Aaron of hindering the 
people, and keeping them from their tasks. 
That very day he laid plans to make the 
poor Hebrews work harder and harder. Be- 
fore this time, straw had been furnished to 

mix with clay in making bricks ; but now 

109 





MAKING BRICK IN EGYPT 



no 



The Plagues of Egypt 1 1 1 

the king ordered that no more straw be 
given the Israelites. They must gather 
stubble from the fields : but still they were 
to make as many bricks as before. 

The men worked very hard, and the 
cruel taskmasters who were set over them 
kept saying, " Fulfill your works, your daily 
tasks, as when there was straw ; " but the 
people could not make as many bricks as 
when the straw was furnished. Then the 
officers were beaten ; and when they com- 
plained to the king, he mocked them, say- 
ing : " Ye are idle, ye are idle : therefore ye 
say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. 
Go therefore now, and work." 

When the people heard this message, 
they were sad : they could not see any 
brightness beyond the dark cloud of their 
present distress. Their faith in the Lord's 
promise grew weak, and they blamed Moses 
for all the trouble that had come upon them. 
Moses was grieved, too, but instead of find- 
ing fault with the people, he prayed ear- 
nestly ; and the Lord told him again that 
he would surely bring the people out from 
bondage, and give them their own land of 
Canaan, and that he would certainly be 




ii2 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




with them, and be their God. But the an- 
guish of the people was so great, the cloud 
was so heavy before their eyes, that they 
would not listen to these cheering words. 
The Lord also told Moses that he must go 
again and again before the king, with mes- 
sages that he would give him. Moses was 
now eighty years old, and Aaron his brother 
was three years older. 

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, 
and repeated their message ; " and Aaron 
cast down his rod, . . . and it became a 
serpent." Then the king called in his magi- 
cians, and their rods appeared to become 
serpents also ; but Aaron's rod swallowed 
their rods. 

Still Pharaoh would not let the people 
. go. He " hardened his heart ; " that is, he 
refused to listen to the still, small voice — 
the voice of conscience — that was speaking 
to him, and urging him to do as the Lord 
commanded. This small, quiet voice is 
given to every person who lives in all the 
world ; but very often men and women — 
yes, and little children — will not listen to 
it. It may speak to them when they are 
busy at work, and tell them to stop a mo- 




UNDER THE TASKMASTERS OF EGYPT 



113 



ii4 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

nient for prayer ; it may urge them to give 
up a pleasure to make some oue else happy ; 
it may warn against sin : but whatever it 
says, we shall do well to listen ; for by turn- 
ing away, we shall do just what King Pha- 
raoh did — harden our hearts. If this is 
done again and again, the heart becomes so 
hard that the little voice is scarcely heard 
at all. This is the way it was with the 
king. 




THE RIVER NILE 

Whenever (: The River" is spoken of in 
connection with Egypt, every one knows 
that the River Nile is meant, because there 
is only one river in that country. But the 
Nile is a large and very long stream, hav- 
ing its source thousands of miles in the 
interior of Africa. 

Except along the sea-coast, it seldom 
rains in Egypt, sometimes only two light 
showers falling in a whole year in Middle 
Egypt, where the Israelites dwelt. You can 



The Plagues of Egypt 115 

see that if the vegetation depended on these 
showers for moisture, it would soon dry up 
and die under the burning sun of that 
land ; and tne whole country would shortly 
become a vast sandy desert, in which no 
one could live. 

But from the most ancient times " The 
River " has overflowed at a certain season 
of the year; and by a system of canals and 
ditches its waters have moistened and en- 
riched a wide strip of land on each side of 
its banks. And wherever the water reaches x 
the land is, for several months of the year, 
like a beautiful garden. 

Because, in a certain sense, their very 
lives depended on the River Nile, the people 
of Egypt came to look upon it as a god, 
and to worship it instead of the One who 
gave them every blessing. 

THE WATERS TURNED TO BLOOD 

After the king had twice heard the com- 
mand to let the people go away, and had 
refused to obey it, the Lord told Moses to 
take his rod, and go out in the morning to 
the banks of the river, where Pharaoh would 
come down to worship. There he was to 



n6 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




repeat for the third time the Lord's mes- 
sage ; and if the king should still refuse 
to let the people, he was to stretch out his 
rod over the river, and all the waters of 
Egypt would be turned to blood. 

Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had 
said ; and Aaron lifted up his rod, and 
smote the waters of the Nile in the sight of 
the king and his servants ; and " all the 
waters of Egypt " — the great river itself, 
with all its channels and pools, as well as 
the wells and all the water that was in 
vessels in the Egyptians' houses — became 
blood. All the fishes in the river died; and 
added to the loathsome sight of the waters 
of the sacred river turned to blood was the 
dreadful stench from their decaying bodies. 
But the magicians also appeared to turn 
water to blood ; and Pharaoh turned from 
the river, his heart untouched by this mir- 
acle, and went into his house. The plague 
lasted seven days. 

THE PLAGUE OF FROGS 

Again the brothers went to the palace, 
with the same message they had given 
before; and again the king refused to hear. 



The Plagues of Egypt 



117 



Then Aaron stretched out his rod over the 
waters of Egypt, and great numbers of 
frogs came up and covered the land. They 
entered the houses and the sleeping-rooms ; 
they hid themselves in the beds and the 
ovens; even in the dishes where food was 
prepared, they were found. The magicians 
pretended to bring up frogs ; but when the 
king asked them to remove the pests, they 
could not. So at last he called for Moses, 
and begged him to ask the Lord to remove 
the frogs, promising to let the people go. 
The next day, at an appointed time, Moses 
prayed that the frogs be taken away. " And 
the Lord did according to the word of 
Moses." The frogs died, and were gathered 
in great heaps outside the cities and vil- 
lages ; but when Pharaoh saw that the frogs 
were dead, he refused to keep his promise, 
and would not let the people go. 

THE PLAGUES OF LICE AND FLIES 

Directed by the Lord, Aaron now stretched 
out his rod over the dust of the land, and 
the dust became lice. Look outdoors, and 
try to think how it would be if all the tiny 
dust-particles in street, road, and field were 





n8 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 



*3fi 



7^=> 




little stinging insects. Then you can imag- 
ine how they must have swarmed in that 
dusty land. The magicians tried to bring 
lice, too, but they could not. Thus far the 
Lord had allowed them to imitate the won- 
ders he was doing; but with this miracle 
their power came to an end, and they 
declared, " This is the finger of God." 

But Pharaoh would not listen even to 
the magicians ; so the Lord told Moses to 
go again to the river-bank, and repeat the 
command to let the children of Israel go 
away to worship. When the king refused, 
the Lord sent flies into the land ; they came 
in clouds, and filled the houses, and vexed 
the cattle, and darkened the very air, so 
that " the land was corrupted by reason of 
the swarm of flies." Only in the land of 
Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, the flies 
did not come. This was to be a sign to 
the king and to the people of Egypt that 
the God of Israel was working in behalf of 
his chosen people. 

The plagues were so bad that Pharaoh 
again called Moses to the palace. This time 
he did not say that the people might go to 
worship if the plagues were taken away, 



The Plagues of Egypt 



119 



but he said they might offer sacrifices in 
Egypt. Moses told the king that this would 
not do. In their worship the Israelites 
would offer in sacrifice many animals such 
as the people of Egypt worshiped ; and 
when the Egyptians should see this, they 
would be angry, and would kill the Hebrews. 
No, said Moses, we will go a three-days' 
journey into the wilderness, as the Lord 
has said. 

Finally Pharaoh promised that if the 
plagues were removed, he would let the 
people go as they wished ; but when, in 
answer to the prayer of Moses, the flies and 
lice were taken away, so there was not one 
left, " Pharaoh hardened his heart, . . . 
neither would he let the people go." 

THE MURRAIN PLAGUE, AND THE PLAGUE 
OF BOILS 

Once more the Lord sent Moses and 
Aaron to the king. If he should still refuse 
to let the people go, Aaron was to tell him 
that on a set time the next day the Lord 
would send a deadly disease called murrain 
upon all the sheep and cattle and horses 
and camels in Egypt: only those belonging 
to the children of Israel should not be sick. 




120 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




The next day the plague came, and very 
many of the cattle died. Pharaoh sent mes- 
sengers to Goshen to see if it was true that 
none of the Hebrews' cattle were dead ; and 
though he saw that the plague had not 
touched them, he hardened his heart, and 
refused to let the people go. Then Moses 
sprinkled ashes toward heaven in the sight 
of the king ; and painful boils broke out on 
man and beast. The magicians were afflicted 
with the disease, and all their magic did 
not avail to remove it. 



THE GREAT HAIL-STORM 

Yet again Moses went before the king, 
with the request he had made before, and 
told him that if he still refused to let the 
people go, the Lord would send a " very 
grievous" storm of hail upon Egypt, and 
that nothing could stand before it. Some 
of the Egyptians feared the Lord ; they had 
seen the wonders he had already done, and 
they believed what Moses said. These 
brought in their cattle from the field, and 
they themselves stayed in their houses. 

The next day the fearful storm came 
upon the land, — wind, and rain, and hail, 



i 



The Plagues of Egypt 121 

" and fire mingled with the hail," " and the 
fire ran along npon the ground." 

Perhaps you have seen a hail-storm, and 
remember how the summer day darkened, 
the heated air grew chill, the black clouds 
rolled in from the northwest, and the great 
trees rocked in the wind. A moment, and 
the air was filled with blinding hail, that 
beat against the house, and made the win- 
dows rattle. Perhaps a few have seen a 
hail-storm so severe that the glass was 
broken out of the frames, the leaves were 
stripped from the trees, and the fair 
fields of grain were beaten into the 
earth. But even at their worst, such 
storms do not usually last long : their first 
fury is soon spent, the rain passes, the wind 
dies away, and the sun looks cheerfully out 
on the drenched, hurt earth. 

But the hail-storm of Egypt did not 
pass : the wind blew, and the great hail- 
stones mingled with fire fell, and the roar 
of thunder rose above all other sounds. 
The cattle left in the open fields were 
killed, with the people who had not sought 
shelter before the storm began. Only in 
the land of Goshen was there no hail. 





122 Easy Steps in the Bible Story, 

No such storm had ever been seen in 
Egypt, and the people were filled with ter- 
ror ; the wicked king himself was afraid. 
In haste he sent for the men he had so 
often scorned, " I have sinned this time," 
he told them ; " the Lord is righteous, and 
I and my people are wicked. Entreat the 
Lord . . . that there be no more mighty 
thunderings and hail ; and I will let you 

go." 

So Moses went out, not afraid in the 
fearful storm, for the Lord protected him. 
When he had gone outside the city, he 
lifted up his hands and prayed, and the 
storm ceased. " And when Pharaoh saw 
that the rain and the hail and the thunders 
were ceased, he sinned yet more, . . . 
neither would he let the children of Israel 



go. 



PLAGUES OF LOCUSTS AND DARKNESS 



Once more Moses and Aaron sought the 
palace of the king, and repeated their re- 
quest in the name of the God of the 
Hebrews. " If thou refuse to let my people 
go," said the Lord by his servants, "behold, 
to-morrow will I bring the locusts into thy 



The Plagues of Egypt 123 

coast." These locusts would be worse than 
the frogs, and the flies, and the lice : they 
would not only fill the houses of the Egyp- 
tians, but they would also eat up every 
green thing left from the hail in all the 
land. When Aaron had spoken these words, 
the brothers turned and went out. Then 
the king's servants spoke to him, and ad- 
vised him to listen to Moses and Aaron. 
" Knowest thou not," they said, " that 
Egypt is destroyed?" 

These words impressed the king, and he 
called Moses and Aaron, and told them to 
take the people, and go and serve the Lord. 
" But who," he asked, " are they that shall 
go?" 

When Aaron told him that they must 
go with their aged fathers and mothers, with 
their sons and their daughters, and with 
their flocks and herds, the king was angry. 
No, he said ; let the men go, but their 
wives and children must stay behind. 

So Moses stretched out his rod over the 
land, and the Lord sent an east wind, that 
brought the locusts. And the locusts " cov- 
ered the face of the whole earth, so that 
the land was darkened ; and they did eat 



^2 




124 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




every herb of the land, and all the fruit of 
the trees which the hail had left : and there 
remained not any green thing in the trees, 
or in the herbs of the field, through all the 
land of Egypt." 

Then the king sent for Moses and Aaron 
in haste, and begged forgiveness for his sin, 
and that the locusts might be taken away ; 
but when the Lord, in answer to the prayer 
of Moses, sent a west wind and cast the 
locusts into the sea, the king again refused 
to let the people go. 

After this the Lord sent darkness over 
all Egypt for three days, — a darkness so 
black and horrible that no one can describe 
it. It was as if the land was again as the 
whole earth was before the Lord said, u Let 
there be light," on the first day of Creation 
Week, — a darkness so thick that it could 
be felt. Even to this day, when men wish 
to speak of great darkness, they compare 
it to the darkness that came upon the 
land of Egypt. For three days the people 
did not go outside their dwellings, neither 
did they see one another, nor move about; 
but the children of Israel had light in their 
homes. 



The Plagues of Egypt 



!25 



Pharoah called again for Moses and 
Aaron, and told them that now the people 
might go with their wives and children: 
only they should leave their flocks and 
herds behind. But Moses told the king 
that they must have their cattle and sheep 
in order to offer sacrifices, and that there 
should not be left so much as one hoof be- 
hind. Then was the king very angry ; he 
ordered Moses to go away, and never come 
into his presence again. 

Pharaoh had abundant opportunity to obey 
the word of the Lord, and to acknowledge 
him ; but he would not accept it, he would 
not yield his will to that of the Lord, he 
would not humble his proud heart. Now 
the opportunity was gone forever. 





SPRINKLING THE BLOOD 



126 




xn 
The P&ssover 

NINE dreadful plagues had been brought 
upon the people and the land of Egypt, 

— the blood for water, the frogs, the lice, 
the flies, the murrain, the boils, the hail, 
the locusts, and the darkness. The people 
had suffered; many of their cattle had died; 
the whole land lay waste and desolate. Now 
the Lord told Moses that he would bring 
one more plague — the most terrible of all 

— upon the Egyptians ; and after that, Pha- 
raoh would send the people away. 

When Moses spoke to King Pharaoh this 
time, he did not ask him to let the people 
go. Instead, he told him that a dreadful 
thing would happen that very night — " all 
the firstborn in the land of Egypt " should 
die. The " firstborn " is the eldest child in 
a family. In those days and in that coun- 
try the eldest child was regarded with spe- 

127 



128 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




cial love and pride. If a son, he was the 
heir, and wonld in his turn become the 
head of his father's house. Yet now not 
one was to be spared : all the firstborn, 
from the eldest child of the king himself 
to the eldest child of the poorest person in 
his kingdom, should die. Even the first- 
born of the beasts would not be saved. 
Only the children of Israel would be kept 
from this fearful thing, that the wicked 
king and all his people might know that 
the Lord " put a difference between the 
Egyptians and Israel." 

And so the very time had come when 
the Lord would deliver his people — their 
long bondage was even then over. Through 
his servant, the Lord gave careful direc- 
tions for the Hebrews to follow in the 
short time before the hour when the first- 
born should die. Every family was to kill 
a lamb that evening, and sprinkle some of 
its blood on the side-posts of the doorway 
and above the door. A bunch of hyssop — 
a short, bushy herb having a bitter taste — 
was used for this purpose. When the de- 
stroying angel should pass through the 
land at midnight, he would spare the first- 



The Passover 



129 



born in the Homes where the blood was 
over the door, showing that those within 
feared the Lord, and were carefnl to obey 
his word. 

The lamb was to be roasted whole, and 
eaten with bitter herbs and nnleavened 
bread. " Thus shall ye eat it," said the 
Lord, "with your loins girded, your shoes 
on your feet, and your staff in your hand ; 
and ye shall eat it in haste." If any 
family was too small to eat all the lamb, their 
nearest neighbor was to eat it with them. 
None of it was to be left uneaten. 

The people did as the Lord had said. 
For every family a lamb was killed, pre- 
pared with bitter herbs, and eaten as the 
Lord had directed. On the doorposts and 
lintel of every Hebrew home was the sprin- 
kled blood. All were ready to start when 
the signal should be given. The smallest 
details were carried out just as the Lord 
had said. Carelessness, forgetfulness, dis- 
obedience, would surely mean the death of 
the most tenderly cherished child; for if 
a family had prepared the feast with the 
greatest care, and still the blood had not 
been applied, the angel would not have 
9 




.y&z-v&z- 



130 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 





spared the house. " The blood shall be to 
you for a token," the Lord had said, "upon 
the houses where ye are : and when I see 
the blood, I will pass over you, and the 
plagues shall not be upon you to destroy 
you, when I smite the land of Egypt." 

And at midnight " there was a great cry 
in Egypt ; " for the destroying angel passed 
through the land, and " there was not a 
house where there was not one dead," from 
the crown prince in the palace to the eldest 
child in the beggar's hut, with the firstborn 
of all the cattle. That bitter, terrible cry 
arose from every Egyptian home, and reached 
the ears and the heart of the cruel king. 
He sent in haste for Moses and Aaron that 
very night ; and when they were come before 
him, he said: " Rise up, and get you forth 
from among my people, both ye and the 
children of Israel ; and go, serve the Lord, 
as ye have said. Also take your flocks and 
your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; 
and bless me also." 

So great was the fear upon the Egyp- 
tians, that they urged the Israelites to go 
quickly; and they gave them jewels of gold 
and of silver, with clothes and everything 




IN EVERY HOUSE THERE WAS ONE DEAD 



131 



132 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




else that they needed. Anything the He- 
brews asked was gladly given them, if only 
they would go away. " And the Egyptians 
were urgent upon the people, that they 
might send them out of the land in haste ; 
for they said, We be all dead men." 

Though the Israelites left Egypt so hur- 
riedly, and Moses had many things to 
think of, he did not forget to take with 
them the bones of Joseph, as he had re- 
quested. When the children of Israel came 
down to Goshen, so many years before, they 
numbered only about seventy persons ; but 
when they left Egypt, those that went out 
were " about six hundred thousand on foot 
that were men, beside children ; and a 
mixed multitude went up also with them ; 
and flocks, and herds, and very much 
cattle." 

Thus we see how the Lord fulfilled his 
promise to make of the children of Jacob 
a " great nation " in a land that was not 
theirs, and finally to bring them safely out 
of it. 

In order that they might not forget how 
he had delivered them from their enemies, 
the Lord directed that his people should 



The Passover 133 

keep a feast to him on that day every year, 
called the Feast of the Passover. When 
the children should see the blood on the 
doorposts, and should eat the unleavened 
bread, and the lamb roasted with bitter 
herbs, their parents would tell them of 
Israel's long slavery and heavy burdens in 
Egypt ; how their little ones were taken 
from them and killed ; and how at last the 
Lord kept them safe on that dreadful night 
when they ate the first Passover, and the 
destroying angel " passed over" their homes, 
and spared their firstborn. 

The Passover Feast was to serve another 
purpose also. It was not only to help the 
people to remember their deliverance from 
Egyptian bondage, and how their firstborn 
were saved from death, but it was also to 
direct their minds to the Lamb of God, who 
would come to save them from the bondage 
of sin, and to bring to them the gift of 
eternal life. As the result of sin, death en- 
tered the world. The flowers wither and 
fade ; the grass turns brown and dry ; the 
leaves fall from the trees ; and men and 
women, and even little children, die. But 
God loved his people — he "so > loved the 




134 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

world, that lie gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." This 
means that though people may die, they 
will some day live again. 

Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, and his 
blood will wash away the stains of sin, and 
make our hearts pure and clean in God's 
sight. But we must believe that it is able 
to do this ; we must accept it, each for our- 
selves, and then, with Jesus' help, keep his 
commandments. It is not enough to say 
we believe, when we do not obey, just as it 
would not have saved the firstborn to eat 
the feast without the blood being sprinkled 
above the door. Shall we not both believe 
and obey ? 





THE land of Canaan was sometimes called 
the " land of promise," because the 
Lord had promised it to the children of his 
servant Abraham ; sometimes it was de- 
scribed as a " land flowing with milk and 
honey," because there were so many cows 
in the green pastures, and so many bees 
gathering honey from the flowers in the 
valleys. There were two ways into this 
pleasant land. One of these ways was 
short ; but it passed through the country of 
the Philistines, a fierce and warlike people, 
who would have made trouble for the Israel- 
ites : so the Lord directed Moses to lead 
them into Canaan by a longer but safer 
way. He himself " went before them by 
day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them, 
. . . and by night in a pillar of fire, to 
give them light." 

J 35 




T 








136 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

For a few days the people marched fast, 
with only short stops for rest; then the 
Lord told Moses to have them camp in 
a certain place by the Red Sea. He also 
told his servant that the Egyptians were 
coming, but that he would keep his people. 

At first the Egyptians had been too sad 
to care whether the Hebrews had gone or 
not ; every family was mourning the loss 
of some loved one : but when the dead were 
buried, they began to miss the Israelites, 
who had done so much work for them ; be- 
sides, they began to wish they had again 
the jewels and the clothing they had so 
cheerfully given to the Hebrews on that 
terrible night when the firstborn were slain. 

Word came to the king that the people 
had not stopped in the wilderness, but had 
gone on to the Red Sea. When Pharaoh 
heard this, he was very angry, and said, 
" Why have we let Israel go from serving 
us ? " He quickly gathered an army, and 
went after them. The best soldiers in all 
the land were in this company, — the king's 
own royal guard, and " six hundred chosen 
chariots, . . . and captains over every one 
of them." 



Crossing the Red Sea 



*37 



You remember that there was a " mixed 
multitude " who left Egypt with the chil- 
dren of Israel. Some of these were honest, 
and truly believed in the God of the 
Hebrews ; but many were led by other mo- 
tives. Some were afraid of the plagues, 
and others were curious to see if any fur- 
ther miracles would be wrought. These per- 
sons often brought trouble into the camp 
of Israel, and stirred up doubt, envy, and 
unbelief among the people. Whenever they 
came to a hard place, they immediately 
began to wish they were back in Egypt ; 
and their influence made it difficult for 
Moses and those who were trying to help 
him. 

When the people saw the Egyptians 
coming, the bright sunshine gleaming on 
their chariots and weapons and armor, they 
were afraid ; but instead of saying, " What 
time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee," 
and asking the Lord to deliver them, they 
began to find fault with Moses. Were there 
no graves in Egypt, they asked, that you 
have brought us out here to die in this 
wilderness? Before them was the sea, on 
each side were mountains, and behind them 






138 Easy Steps in the Bihle Story 

was Pharaoh's army. There seemed to be 
no way for them to escape: they thought 
they would surely be killed, and their wives 
and children taken back to Egypt. Did we 
not tell you, they said, while we were still 
in Egypt, to let us alone, that we might 
serve the Egyptians? 

Moses might have reminded them of the 
cruel treatment they had received in that 
land, and how glad they were at the 
thought of going away ; but he spoke kindly 
to them, and told them not to fear; for the 
Lord would fight for them. 

Then a wonderful thing happened : The 
pillar of cloud, which had been in front of 
the camp, removed, and settled behind it, 
: shutting the people off from the sight of 
their enemies. To the Egyptians " it was a 
cloud and darkness ; " but to the children of 
Israel it gave light all that night, making 
the darkness bright as day. 

Then Moses went down to the sea, and 
stretched out his rod over it; and the Lord 
divided the waters, and made a path through 
the sea, so his people could pass over to 
the other side. On the right hand and on 
the left, the waters of the sea were piled up 



Crossing the Red Sea 139 

like a great wall, high above their heads, 
with a wide, dry path between, over which 
they could easily walk. It was a number 
of miles across this path in the sea ; and 
had it not been for the cloudy pillar, the 
Egyptians would soon have overtaken the 
Hebrews, laden as they were with their 
little ones, their aged, and their sheep and 
cattle. But the Lord helped them, and 
kept them from becoming weary. " Ye 
have seen," he afterward said to Moses, in 
speaking of this very time, "how I bare 
you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto 
myself." This means that he gave them 
strength for the long march, and helped 
them to go quickly. 

As the people of Israel moved along to- 
ward the other shore, the cloud followed 
them, and the Egyptians followed the cloud. 
They knew the Hebrews were on the other 
side, and they were determined they should 
not get away. "And the Egyptians pursued, 
and went in after them to the midst of the 
sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, 
and his horsemen." 

Then the Lord troubled the Egyptians ; 
the wheels came off their chariots ; and they 




140 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




began to be afraid, and to wish they had 
not come. " Let us flee from the face of 
Israel/' they said, u for the Lord fighteth 
for them against the Egyptians." But it 
was just as hard to go back as it was to 
go on ; and while they were thus confused 
and troubled, the last of the Hebrews 
passed safely through, and up on the shore 
beyond. Then the Lord told Moses to 
stretch out his hand over the sea; and when 
he did so, the " waters returned, and cov- 
ered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all 
the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea 
after them; there remained not so much as 
one of them." 

The Lord sent this terrible punishment 
upon the Egyptians because they had so 
long refused to obey him ; it was also a sign 
to his own unbelieving people that he was 
surely with them. " And the people feared 
the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his 
servant Moses." 

After the Israelites were all safe on the 
other shore, and their enemies were dead, 
Moses led them in a grand song of praise 
to God for their wonderful deliverance ; and 
his sister Miriam went out with a timbrel, 



Crossing the Red Sea 



141 



— an ancient musical instrument, — followed 
by the women of Israel, all singing praises 
to the Lord. 

Afterward Moses wrote out the words of 
this song, and we can read it all in the fif- 
teenth chapter of Exodus. It is called "the 
song of Moses," and is one of the songs 
that will be sung by the people of God 
when they are finally saved from all their 
enemies, and stand before him on " the sea 
of glass mingled with fire," that we read 
about in Revelation. Would it not be well 
to read that beautiful song often now, so as 
to become familiar with its thoughts, even 
if we do not remember all the words? 




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J 



\ 



/* 




XJV 



<mm^- 



THE MIRACLE AT MARAH 

PPE GMHG Of THE MATO 



3# 





/iFTER the song of praise at the Red 
A Sea, the people went into a desert place 
called the Wilderness of Shur, where they 
wandered about for three days trying to find 
water. When at last they did find some, it 
was bitter, and they could not drink it. 
This was a great disappointment. They 
were weary and very thirsty ; for the water 
they had brought with them, in water-bot- 
tles made of the skins of animals, was 
all gone. Quickly forgetting how the Lord 
had saved them at the Red Sea, they be- 
gan to murmur again against Moses. . u And 
he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord 
showed him a tree, which when he had 
cast into the waters, the waters were made 
sweet;" and all the people drank, and were 
refreshed. The Lord would have been just 
as willing to hear his people, and answer 
142 



The Miracle at Mar ah 143 

their prayer, as he was to hear the prayer 
of Moses; but they, instead of asking his 
help, began to murmur and complain. 
They did not trust their Leader; but Moses 
believed him, and God honored his faith. 

At this place the Lord made a covenant 
with the children of Israel, saying that if 
they would listen to his voice, and obey his 
commands, he would not allow any of the 
diseases of Egypt to come upon them. " I 
am the Lord," he said, " that healeth thee." 
Surely the people must have been glad to 
hear these cheering words. 

The place where the bitter waters were 
made sweet was called Marah ; for Marah 
means " bitter." The people next stopped 
at Elim, — a pleasant place, where there 
were twelve wells and seventy palm-trees. 
But they did not stay there many days. A 
long journey was before them, and no doubt 
they were anxious to reach their own land. 
Leaving Elim, they went into another des- 
ert, called the Wilderness of Sin. There 
their food gave out, and they began to be 
hungry. It was now a month since they 
had left Egypt, and the food they had 
brought with them was all gone. There 




•fXtc 



^„>4fe^i44 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

s \ ,1 they were in the desert, — a great company, 

.JqSSfif^ — with nothing to eat. Of course thev 

i.s~PjM\i blamed Moses. We wish we had died in 

jE? ill Egypt, they said, where we " sat by the 

! flfeJ flesh pots, and did eat bread to the full." 

y^/M^^x Moses rebuked the people at this time, 




^ ~* I an d told them that their murmurings were 
not against him, but against the Lord ; and 
that when they found fault at every hard 
place, they dishonored God. We can not 
read the history of this people, in their 
journey to Canaan, without often wondering 
at the love and patience of our Heavenly 
Father in his dealings with them. How 
tenderly he led them and cared for them, 
in spite of their unbelief and sin ! In later 
years, King David wrote of this very mat- 
ter, in these beautiful words: " How oft did 
they provoke him in the wilderness, and 
grieve him in the desert!" Yet he, "being 
full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, 
and destroyed them not." 

Instead of leaving the people to care for 
themselves, the Lord told Moses that he 
would provide food for them — even " bread 
from heaven." Then Aaron called the chil- 
dren of Israel together ; and as he was 






The Giving of the Manna 



*45 



speaking, they looked toward the cloud, 
which had become bright and terrible with 
the glory of God. " And the Lord spake 
unto Moses, saying, I have heard the mur- 
murings of the children of Israel : speak 
unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat 
flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled 
with bread." 

That night great numbers of quails came 
up around the camp, and thus the people 
were provided with meat. In the morning 
there was a heavy dew ; and when it dried 
away, the people saw something on the 
ground that they had never seen before 

— "a small round thing," "like coriander 
seed, white." 

Moses told the people that this was the 
bread the Lord had promised, and directed 
them to gather a certain amount of it for 
every person in the company. Each one 
was to have an omer — about three quarts 

— of the manna (for that was the name 
the people gave to this wonderful food ) ; 
and none were to gather more, thinking to 
save something over for another day. But 
some of the people paid no attention to 
Moses' words, and saved some of the manna ^ 



10 





146 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

till the next morning. " And it bred 
worms, and stank : and Moses was wroth 
with them." 

Every morning the people went out to 
gather the manna, and what was left on 
the ground melted away as the sun grew 
warm. They ground it into meal and made 
cakes of it; "and the taste of it was like 
wafers mixed with honey." 

There is a lesson for us in the way the 
Lord supplied his people with food. Do 
you not think he could have sent the cakes 
already baked — just as many as each one 
needed — every night, so the people would 
have had nothing to do but to eat them? 
— Certainly he could ; but he knew that it 
is always the best and happiest way for 
people to work for what they have. When 
he put Adam and Eve in the beautiful gar- 
den, he gave them something to do ; and 
that is his plan for all his people always. 
Idleness is the very first step in sin ; for 
when one is doing nothing that is useful 
and helpful, he is sure soon to do some- 
thing wicked. 

But aside from the daily miracle, there 
was another wonderful thing connected with 



The Giving of the Manna 147 

the manna. It fell on only six days of 
the week : and on the sixth day enough 
was to be gathered so every person would 
have a double measure — one for that day, 
and one for the next day, the holy Sabbath. 
When manna was saved over on any other 
day, it spoiled; but that gathered on the 
sixth day kept fresh and sweet over the 
Sabbath. This was a sign to the people 
that they should rest on the Sabbath : it 
was also to be a test to them, whether they 
would obey the Lord's words. The manna 
was not found in one place alone ; but it 
was gathered first in one place, then in 
another, wherever in their long journey the 
people went. 

The Lord told Moses that an omer of 
manna should be gathered and kept by the 
Hebrew people forever, that those who 
should live after them might see the bread 
with which he fed them when he brought 
them out of Egypt. So Aaron took a 
golden vessel, and filled it with the manna, 
and it remained fresh and good. By and 
by you will learn where the golden pot of 
manna was kept. 






FROM the Wilderness of Sin the people 
journeyed to Rephidim ( Ref'-i-dim), 
another place where there was no water. 
Here again they became thirsty, and " mur- 
mured against Moses, and said, Wherefore 
is this that thou hast brought us up out 
of Egypt, to kill us and our children and 
our cattle with thirst?" 

This was the third time they had ac- 
cused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt 
to kill them. The first time was by the 
Red Sea; and the second, when they had no 
food. Each time the Lord had saved them, 
but still they did not trust him. They 
grew so angry with Moses that they were 
almost ready to stone him. Moses asked 
the Lord what he should do ; and the Lord 
told him to take the rod with which he 
smote the sea, and go on before the people, 

with the elders of Israel, to Horeb. " Be- 

148 



The Amalekites 



149 



hold," he said, " I will stand before thee 
there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou 
shalt smite the rock, and there shall come 
water out of it, that the people may drink." 

And so again the thirsty people drank. 
If they had learned, even then, the lesson 
of trust and obedience, they would have 
saved themselves much sorrow. 

A wicked nation called the Amalekites 
(Am'-a-lek-ites) lived in this part of the 
country, and they came out to fight against 
the children of Israel. Then Moses called 
Joshua — a brave young man, who feared 
the Lord — to choose out the strongest men 
among the Israelites to fight with Amalek. 

The next day the battle was fought. 
Moses took his rod in his hand, and with 
Aaron and Hur went to the top of a hill, 
where he could see the battle. As long as 
he held up his hands, the children of Is- 
rael prevailed; but when he grew weary, 
and let them fall to his side, the Amalek- 
ites prevailed. Then Aaron and Hur made 
Moses sit down; and they stood one on 
each side, and held up his hands until sun- 
set. Thus Israel gained the victory. 

The Lord was displeased with the people 




150 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




of Amalek because they came out aud 
troubled the children of Israel; and he told 
Moses to write it in a book, that he would 
" utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek 
from under heaven." Moses built an altar 
at that place, in memory of these words* 
When the children of Israel were still 
at Rephidim, Jethro, the aged priest of 
Midian, with whom Moses had lived forty 
years, came to visit him. With him came 

Zipporah ( Zip - po - rah ) , 
the wife of Moses, and 
his two sons, whom he 
had sent back to Jethro's 
house before the people 
left Egypt. 
When Moses told Jethro all that the 
Lord had done for Israel, — how he had de- 
livered them from their enemies, and led 
them through the sea, and given them food 
to eat and water to drink, — Jethro ex- 
claimed: " Blessed be the Lord, who hath 
delivered you out of the hand of the 
Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh. 
. . . Now I know that the Lord is greater 
than all gods." To show that he truly be- 
lieved in him, Jethro offered sacrifices to God. 



The Visit of J e thro 151 

Jethro loved Moses, and he gave him 
some good advice about his work. When- 
ever any one in the whole camp got into a 
dispute with his neighbor, he came to Moses 
to have it settled, so that " the people stood 
by Moses from the morning unto the even- 
ing." This work was too hard for Moses; 
his days were so filled with small matters 
that he did not have time for necessary rest 
and study. 

When Jethro saw how things were, he 
advised Moses to appoint men who feared 
the Lord to help him judge the people, and 
thus bear the burden with him. Moses did 
as Jethro suggested, choosing able men out 
of all Israel, and making them rulers of 
certain companies. " And they judged the 
people at all seasons : the hard causes they 
brought unto Moses, but every small matter 
they judged themselves." 

After this, Jethro went back to his 
home in Midian. His visit was a help 
and comfort to Moses in many ways. 
No doubt this great leader of men of- 
ten longed for the tender human love 
and sympathy that his aged father- 
in-law had for him. 





MMAMD 




THREE months after setting out from 
Egypt, the children of Israel entered 
the Wilderness of Sinai, and pitched their 
tents before the mountain of that name. 
Here the Lord talked with Moses again, 
and told him that if the people would obey 
his voice, and keep his covenant, they should 
be a " peculiar treasure " unto him. And 
u all the people answered together, and said, 
All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." 
Then the Lord told Moses to have the 
people cleanse the camp, and wash their 
clothes, and sanctify, or purify, themselves; 
for the third day the Lord himself would 
come down upon Mount Sinai. They 
were directed to place bounds about 
the mount, so that no person or any 
beast should go near the holy place; 
and if any should disobey, and think 
to draw near, he should die. 
152 



The Ten Commandments 153 

All this was done ; and on the morning 
of the third day the Lord came down upon 
the mountain. And " there were thunders 
and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the 
mount, and the voice of the trumpet ex- 
ceeding loud; so that all the people that 
was in the camp trembled." 

Moses led the people out to the foot of 
the mountain; and after charging them again 
not to pass the barriers that had been placed 
about it, God gave to Israel his holy law — 
the ten commandments. This law was not 
for the Hebrew people alone : it was for 
every person who should live in all the 
earth. And these are the words of that 
law, as spoken by the Lord that day in the 
hearing of all Israel : — 

/ am the Lord thy God, which have 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out 
of the house of bondage. 

In these words the Lord revealed him- 
self to his people as the one who had 
delivered them from the bitter slavery of 
Egypt — the one who had parted the waters 
of the great sea, and led them through it 
in safety; who had overthrown their ene- 




154 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




mies ; who Had given them food and water 
in the wilderness ; and who was now leading 
them to the land so often promised to the 
descendants of Abraham for an inheritance. 
In many ways we are like the children 
of Israel at that time. Sin (Egypt) is 
in the world; and all have done wrong — 
all have come under the bondage of sin. 
Those who are sorry, who ask to be for- 
given, and who believe that God for the 
sake of his dear Son does forgive and ac- 
cept them, are delivered from this bondage; 
and if they will follow him, the Lord will 
lead them to the heavenly Canaan, the beau- 
tiful land that will some day be the home 
of all those who love and obey him. 



Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 



This means that we are to love no per- 
son, nor any thing, more than we love God. 
He has given us life, and everything that 
we have. How careful we should be not to 
use his good gifts carelessly, and then forget 
all about him, or give him the second place 
in our thoughts ! 



The Ten Commandments 155 

II 

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
image, or any likeness of any thing that is 
in heaven above, or that is in the earth 
beneath, or that is in the water under the 
earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy 
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation of them that hate me ; 
and showing mercy unto thousands of them 
that love me, and keep my comma7tdments. 

We are to come directly to the Lord 
when we pray, and not bow down before 
some picture or image, thinking that it rep- 
resents him. This sin is forbidden again 
and again in the Bible. By doing wrong, 
and giving way to an evil temper, and 
forming bad habits when they are young, 
people make it easier for their children to 
do wrong. Sometimes they bring diseases 
upon themselves, which their children in- 
herit. But that is no excuse for the chil- 
dren to sin ; for the Lord can take away 
the evil nature, and give in its place a 
clean heart. 




156 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

III 
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain; for the Lord will not 
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

It is possible to take God's holy name 
in vain in other ways besides swearing. It 
may be spoken lightly and thoughtlessly — 
" in vain " — when talking or reading. 
We should be careful never to take that 
sacred name upon our lips, even in song or 
prayer, without remembering to whom it 
belongs, and that the bright, sinless angels 
themselves veil their faces before him. 

IV 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it 
holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all 
thy work: but the seventh day is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt 
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid 
servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that 
is within thy gates : for in six days the 
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh 
day : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath 
day, and hallowed it. 



The Ten Commandments 



J 57 



This commandment not only tells ns 
just what day is the Sabbath, but it also 
tells us why we are to keep it. It is a 
memorial — that is, something to help us 
remember — of the work of Creation Week. 
When he had made the earth in six days, 
the Lord rested on the seventh day : so 
he has given us six days in which to work, 
and one day — the Sabbath — to rest, and 
to think about his love and the beauti- 
ful home he is making for us. If we re- 
member the Sabbath, we shall think about 
it during all the week, and shall prepare 
for it by having all our work and play out 
of the way before it begins. We must be 
careful, too, not to think about these com- 
mon things, but to keep the day holy with 
our thoughts as well as with our acts. 

V 

Honor thy father and thy mother: that — 2T' 
thy days may be long upon the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

Respect, love, obedience, and honor are 
due to our parents ; for there is no one on 
earth who loves us as deeply and unselfishly 
as do they. If we truly honor father and 




158 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 




mother, we shall be just as careful to please 
them in the smallest things when we are 
away from them, as when we are where 
they can see us. Sometimes children bring 
dishonor upon their parents, by rude ways 
and selfish or unkind acts, even when they 
do not disobey them. The fifth command 
is also called the " commandment with prom- 
ise " — the promise of long life. That does 
not mean long life in this world alone, but 
eternal life in the beautiful home that will* 
finally be given to all who love God. 

VI 

Thou shalt not kill. 

This not only means that we are not to 
take the life of another, but that we are 
not to cherish dislike in the heart toward 
any one. " He that hateth his brother is a 
murderer; " for it is the feeling of hatred 
that leads to the terrible sin against life. 
A heart that is filled with love will have 
no room for unkind, hateful thoughts. 

VII 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

We should not only keep from wrong 
actions, but we should not allow bad 



The Ten Commandments 159 

thoughts in the mind. The thought always 
goes before the act; and if the thoughts 
are pure, the acts will be good. A precious 
promise is given to the pure in heart, in 
these words : " Blessed are the pure in 
heart: for they shall see God." 

VIII 
Thou shalt not steal. 

Nothing that belongs to another, no 
matter how small it may be, no matter if 
he does not really care for it himself, should 
be taken without his knowledge and per- 
mission ; neither should we try to get it 
from him by making him think that it is 
of no value. If we keep the spirit of this 
command, we shall be as careful of what 
belongs to others as of what belongs to us. 

IX 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against 
thy neighbor. 

This commandment forbids all lying and 
deceit of every sort. Sometimes those who 
would not think of stealing another's coat, 
or book, or purse, will tell a falsehood about 
him, and so steal away his good name. It 
is possible to break this command, too, by 





160 Easy Steps in the Bible Story 

keeping back part of the truth when it 
should all be told. 

X 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors 
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid 
servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything 
that is thy neighbor's. 

The sin of covetousness, or wanting what 
belongs to others, is especially hateful in 
God's sight. It is the sin of selfishness; 
and we know that this spirit can have no 
place in heaven. 



And these " Ten Words" are the "holy, 
just, and good " law of our loving Heavenly 
Father for all his children. If we truly 
love him, we shall keep his commandments, 
and his presence will be with us all the 
time, to help us overcome every sinful 
desire and resist every temptation. 

"Blessed are iteg that tin ¥Li% rnmmaurlments, 
that iter? map haixe tight in the tra nf lift, anil mag 
znitx in through the gates into tire ritg." 



NOV 8 1900 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

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